HUNT 
TH£  BISON 
GRISLY 


Shot  by  Theodore  Roosevelt,  September  7J,  1884.  Drawn  by  J.  C.  Beard 

HEAD   OF  GRIZZLY   BEAR 


Hunting    Tales  of  the   West 

Hunting  the  Grisly 

and  Other  Sketches 

An  Account  of  the  Big  Game  of  the  United 

States  and  its  Chase  with  Horse 

Hound,  and  Rifle 


By 

Theodore  Roosevelt 

**  y''J 

Author  of  "  The  Winning  of  the  West,"  "  American  Ideals  " 
**  Hunting  Trips  of  a  Ranchman,"  etc. 


1  The  Wilderness  Hunter  " 
Part  It 


The  Current  Literature 

Publishing   Company 

New  York,  1908 


PST'V 
,<P7 


COPYRIGHT,  1893 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


s 


CHAMPION  ACCESSION 
«A*CftOFT  UBRABY 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  BISON   OR  AMERICAN   BUFFALO. 

Extermination  of  the  bison — My  brother  and  cou- 
sin take  a  hunting  trip  in  Texas — Hardships- 
Hunting  on  the  Brazos — Many  buffalo  slain—- 
Following four  bulls — A  stampede — Splitting  the 
herd — Occasional  charges — A  Comanche  war 
party — Great  herds  on  the  Arkansas — Adven- 
ture of  Clarence  King — The  bison  of  the  moun- 
tains— At  the  vanishing  point — A  hunt  for  moun- 
tain bison — A  trail  discovered — Skilful  tracking 
—A  band  of  six — Death  of  the  bull — A  camp  in 
the  canyon 7 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  BLACK  BEAR. 

Habits  of  the  black  bear — Holds  his  own  well  in 
the  land— The  old  hunters — Hunting  bear  with 
dogs — General  Hampton's  hunting — Black  bear 
at  bay — A  bear  catching  mice  and  chipmunks- 
Occasional  raids  on  the  farmyard — Their  weight 
—Those  I  have  killed 35 

CHAPTER  IIL 

OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISLY  BEAR. 

The  king  of  American  game — Varieties  of  the  grisly 
— Worthlessness  of  old  hunters'  opinions— Grisly 
contrasted  with  black  bear — Size — Habits  in  old 
times— Habits  nowadays— Hybernating— Cattle 

3 


4  CONTENTS. 

killing — Horse  killing — Range  cow  repels  bear- 
Bear  kills  sheep  and  hogs — Occasional  raids  on 
game — Killing  bison,  elk,  and  moose — Eats  car- 
rion— Old  he's  sometimes  kill  cubs — Usually  eats 
roots  and  vegetables — Fondness  for  berries — Its 
foes — Den — Fond  of  wallowing — She's  and  cubs 
—Trapping  bears — Hunting  them  with  dogs—- 
Ordinarily killed  with  rifle 46 

CHAPTER  IV. 

HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Camp  in  the  mountains — After  the  first  snow- 
Trailing  and  stalking  a  big  bear — His  death- 
Lying  in  camp — Stalking  and  shooting  a  bear  at 
a  moose  carcass — Lying  in  wait  for  a  bear  by  a 
dead  elk — He  comes  late  in  the  evening — Is 
killed — A  successful  hunting  trip — A  quarrel — I 
start  home  alone — Get  lost  on  second  day — Shot 
at  a  grisly — His  resolute  charge  and  death — 
Danger  in  hunting  the  grisly — Exaggerated,  but 
real — Rogers  charged — Difference  in  ferocity  in 
different  bears — Dr.  Merrill's  queer  experience — 
Tazewell  Woody's  adventures — Various  ways  in 
which  bears  attack — Examples — Men  maimed 
and  slain — Instances — Mr.  Whitney's  experience 
— A  bear  killed  on  the  round-up — Ferocity  of  old- 
time  bears — Occasional  unprovoked  attacks — A 
French  trapper  attacked — Cowboys  and  bears—- 
Killing them  with  a  revolver — Feat  of  General 
Jackson 80 


CHAPTER  V. 

THS  COUGAR. 

Difficulty  of  killing  the  cougar — My  own  failures- 
Kill  one  in  the  mountains — Hunting  the  cougar 
with  hounds — Experience  of  General  Wade 
Hampton  and  Col.  Cecil  Clay— "  Hold  on, 
Penny  " — What  the  cougar  preys  on — Its  haunts 
—Its  calls — Rarely  turns  on  man— Occasionally 
dangerous — Instances .., 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTER  VI. 

A   PECCARY  HUNT  ON  THE  NUECES. 

A  trip  in  Southern  Texas — A  ranch  on  the  Frio— • 
Roping  cattle — Extermination  of  the  peccary — 
Odd  habits — Occasionally  attacks  unprovoked— 
We  drive  south  to  the  Nueces — Flower  prairies 
— Semi-tropical  landscape — Hunting  on  horse- 
back—Half-blood hounds — Find  a  small  band  of 
peccaries — Kill  two — How  they  act  when  at  bay 
—Their  occasional  freaks 137 

CHAPTER  VII. 

HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS. 

Old-time  hunters  rarely  used  dogs — The  packs  of 
the  southern  planters — Coursing  in  the  West — 
Hunting  with  greyhounds  near  my  ranch — Jack- 
rabbits,  foxes,  coyotes,  antelope,  and  deer — An 
original  sportsman  of  the  prairies — Colonel  Wil- 
liams'greyhounds —  Riding  on  the  plains — Cross- 
country riding — Fox-hunting  at  Geneseo — A  day 
with  Mr.  Wadsworth's  hounds — The  Meadow- 
brook  drag  hounds — High  jumping — A  meet  at 
Sagamore  Hill  —  Fox-hunting  and  fetishism-- 
Prejudices ~f  sportsmen,  foreign  and  native — 
Different  styles  of  riding 151 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

WOLVES  AND  WOLF-HOUNDS. 

The  wolf — Contrasted  with  coyote — Variations  in 
color — Former  abundance — The  riddle  of  its  ex- 
termination— Inexplicable  differences  in  habits 
between  closely  related  species — Size  of  wolf- 
Animals  upon  which  it  preys — Attacking  cattle ; 
horses ;  other  animals  ;  foxes,  dogs,  and  even 
coyotes — Runs  down  deer  and  antelope — Co- 
yotes catch  jack-rabbits — Wolves  around  camp 
— A  wolf  shot — Wolf-hunting  with  hounds — An 
overmatch  for  most  dogs — Decimating  a  pack — 
Coursing  wolves  with  greyhounds — A  hunt  in  the 
foot-hills — Rousing  the  wolves — The  chase — 

4— IB 


6  CONTENTS. 

The  worry — Death  of  both  wolves — Wolfhounds 
near  Fort  Benton — Other  packs — The  Sun  River 
hounds — Their  notable  feats — Col.  Williams' 
hounds •••••«•••••  179 

CHAPTER  IX. 

IN  COWBOY  LAND. 

Development  of  archaic  types  of  character— Cow- 
boys and  hunters — Rough  virtues  and  faults- 
Incidents — Hunting  a  horse-thief — Tale  of  the 
ending  of  a  desperado — Light-hearted  way  of  re- 
garding "broke  horses  " — Hardness  of  the  life 
•  —Deaths  from  many  causes — Fight  of  Indians 
with  trappers — The  slaying  of  the  Medicine 
Chief  Sword-Bearer — Mad  feat  and  death  of  twc 
Cheyenne  braves 208 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   BISON   OR   AMERICAN   BUFFALO. 

WHEN  we  became  a  nation,  in  1776,  the 
buffaloes,  the  first  animals  to  vanish 
when  the  wilderness  is  settled,  roved  to  the 
crests  of  the  mountains  which  mark  the 
western  boundaries  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia, 
and  the  Carolinas.  They  were  plentiful  in 
what  are  now  the  States  of  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
and  Tennessee.  But  by  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century  they  had  been  driven  beyond 
the  Mississippi ;  and  for  the  next  eighty  years 
they  formed  one  of  the  most  distinctive  and 
characteristic  features  of  existence  on  the 
great  plains.  Their  numbers  were  countless 
— incredible.  In  vast  herds  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  individuals,  they  roamed  from 
the  Saskatchewan  to  the  Rio  Grande  and 
westward  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  They 
furnished  all  the  means  of  livelihood  to  the 
tribes  of  Horse  Indians,  and  to  the  curious 

7 


8  HUNTING   THE  GRISLY. 

population  of  French  Metis,  or  Half-breeds, 
on  the  Red  River,  as  well  as  to  those  daunt- 
less and  archtypical  wanderers,  the  white 
hunters  and  trappers.  Their  numbers  slowly 
diminished,  but  the  decrease  was  very  gradual 
until  after  the  Civil  War.  They  were  not  de- 
stroyed by  the  settlers,  but  by  the  railways 
and  the  skin  hunters. 

After  the  ending  of  the  Civil  War,  the  work 
of  constructing  trans-continental  railway  lines 
was  pushed  forward  with  the  utmost  vigor. 
These  supplied  cheap  and  indispensable,  but 
hitherto  wholly  lacking,  means  of  transpor- 
tation to  the  hunters ;  and  at  the  same  time 
the  demand  for  buffalo  robes  and  hides  be- 
came very  great,  while  the  enormous  numbers 
of  the  beasts,  and  the  comparative  ease  with 
which  they  were  slaughtered,  attracted  throngs 
of  adventurers.  The  result  was  such  a  slaugh- 
ter of  big  game  as  the  world  had  never  before 
seen ;  never  before  were  so  many  large  animals 
of  one  species  destroyed  in  so  short  a  time. 
Several  million  buffaloes  were  slain.  In  fifteen 
years  from  the  time  the  destruction  fairly 
began  the  great  herds  were  exterminated.  In 
all  probability  there  are  not  now,  all  told,  five 
hundred  head  of  wild  buffaloes  on  the  Ameri- 
can continent;  and  no  herd  of  a  hundred 
individuals  has  been  in  existence  since  1884. 

The  first  great  break  followed  the  building 
of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway.  All  the  buffa- 
loes of  the  middle  region  were  then  destroyed, 
and  the  others  were  split  into  two  vast  sets  of 
herds,  the  northern  and  the  southern.  The 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.    9 

latter  were  destroyed  first,  about  1878  ;  the 
former  not  until  1883.  My  own  chief  ex- 
perience with  buffaloes  was  obtained  in  the 
latter  year,  among  small  bands  and  scattered 
individuals,  near  my  ranch  on  the  Little  Mis- 
souri ;  I  have  related  it  elsewhere.  But  two  of 
my  kinsmen  were  more  fortunate,  and  took 
part  in  the  chase  of  these  lordly  beasts  when 
the  herds  still  darkened  the  prairie  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  see. 

During  the  first  two  months  of  1877,  mv 
brother  Elliott,  then  a  lad  not  seventeen  years 
old,  made  a  buffalo-hunt  toward  the  edge  of 
the  Staked  Plains  in  northern  Texas.  He 
was  thus  in  at  the  death  of  the  southern  herds ; 
for  all,  save  a  few  scattering  bands,  were  de- 
stroyed within  two  years  of  this  time.  He 
was  with  my  cousin,  John  Roosevelt,  and  they 
went  out  on  the  range  with  six  other  adven- 
turers. It  was  a  party  of  just  such  young  men 
as  frequently  drift  to  the  frontier.  All  were 
short  of  cash,  and  all  were  hardy,  vigorous 
fellows,  eager  for  excitement  and  adventure. 
My  brother  was  much  the  youngest  of  the 
party,  and  the  least  experienced ;  but  he  was 
well-grown,  strong  and  healthy,  and  very  fond 
of  boxing,  wrestling,  running,  riding,  and 
shooting ;  moreover,  he  had  served  an  appren- 
ticeship in  hunting  deer  and  turkeys.  Their 
mess-kit,  ammunition,  bedding,  and  provisions 
were  carried  in  two  prairie-wagons,  each  drawn 
by  four  horses.  In  addition  to  the  teams  they 
had  six  saddle-animals — all  of  them  shaggy, 
unkempt  mustangs.  Three  or  four  dogs,  set- 


10  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

ters  and  half-bred  greyhounds,  trotted  along 
behind  the  wagons.  Each  man  took  his  turn 
for  two  days  as  teamster  and  cook ;  and  there 
were  always  two  with  the  wagons,  or  camp,  as 
the  case  might  be,  while  the  other  six  were  off 
hunting,  usually  in  couples.  The  expedition 
was  undertaken  partly  for  sport  and  partly 
with  the  hope  of  profit ;  for,  after  purchasing 
the  horses  and  wagons,  none  of  the  party  had 
any  money  left,  and  they  were  forced  to  rely 
upon  selling  skins  and  hides,  and,  when  near 
the  forts,  meat. 

They  started  on  January  2d,  and  shaped 
their  course  for  the  head-waters  of  the  Salt 
Fork  of  the  Brazos,  the  centre  of  abundance 
for  the  great  buffalo  herds.  During  the  first 
few  days  they  were  in  the  outskirts  of  the  set- 
tled country,  and  shot  only  small  game — quail 
and  prairie  fowl;  then  they  began  to  kill 
turkey,  deer,  and  antelope.  These  they 
swapped  for  flour  and  feed  at  the  ranches  or 
squalid,  straggling  frontier  towns.  On  sev- 
eral occasions  the  hunters  were  lost,  spending 
the  night  out  in  the  open,  or  sleeping  at  a 
ranch,  if  one  was  found.  Both  towns  and 
ranches  were  filled  with  rough  customers ;  all 
of  my  brother's  companions  were  muscular, 
hot-headed  fellows ;  and  as  a  consequence 
they  were  involved  in  several  savage  free 
fights,  in  which,  fortunately,  nobody  was 
seriously  hurt.  My  brother  kept  a  very  brief 
diary,  the  entries  being  fairly  startling  from 
their  conciseness.  A  number  of  times,  the 
mention  of  their  arrival,  either  at  a  halting- 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO,    n 

place,  a  little  village,  or  a  rival  buffalo-camp 
is  followed  by  the  laconic  remark,  "  big  fight," 
or  "  big  row  " ;  but  once  they  evidently  con- 
cluded discretion  to  be  the  better  part  of  valor, 
the  entry  for  January  2oth  being,  "  On  the 
road — passed  through  Belknap — too  lively,  so 
kept  on  to  the  Brazos — very  late."  The 
buffalo-camps  in  particular  were  very  jealous 
of  one  another,  each  party  regarding  itself  as 
having  exclusive  right  to  the  range  it  was  the 
first  to  find ;  and  on  several  occasions  this 
feeling  came  near  involving  my  brother  and 
his  companions  in  serious  trouble. 

While  slowly  driving  the  heavy  wagons  to 
the  hunting  grounds  they  suffered  the  usual 
hardships  of  plains  travel.  The  weather,  as 
in  most  Texas  winters,  alternated  between  the 
extremes  of  heat  and  cold.  There  had  been 
little  rain  ;  in  consequence  water  was  scarce. 
Twice  they  were  forced  to  cross  wild,  barren 
wastes,  where  the  pools  had  dried  up,  and 
they  suffered  terribly  from  thirst.  On  the 
first  occasion  the  horses  were  in  good  con- 
dition, and  they  travelled  steadily,  with  only 
occasional  short  halts,  for  over  thirty-six 
hours,  by  which  time  they  were  across  the 
waterless  country.  The  journal  reads  : 
"January  27th. — Big  hunt — no  water,  and  we 
left  Quinn's  blockhouse  this  morning  3  A.  M. 
— on  the  go  all  night — hot.  January  28. — No 
water — hot — at  seven  we  struck  water,  and  by 
eight  Stinking  Creek — grand  *  hurrah.' "  On 
the  second  occasion,  the  horses  were  weak 
and  travelled  slowly,  so  the  party  went  forty- 


12  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

eight  hours  without  drinking.  "  February 
1 9th. — Pulled  on  twenty-one  miles — trail  bad 
— freezing  night,  no  water,  and  wolves  after 
our  fresh  meat.  20. — Made  nineteen  miles 
over  prairie  ;  again  only  mud,  no  water, 
freezing  hard — frightful  thirst.  2 1  st. — Thirty 
miles  to  Clear  Fork,  freshwater."  These  en- 
tries were  hurriedly  jotted  down  at  the  time, 
by  a  boy  who  deemed  it  unmanly  to  make 
any  especial  note  of  hardship  or  suffering  ; 
but  every  plainsman  will  understand  the  real 
\  agony  implied  in  working  hard  for  two  nights, 
one  day,  and  portions  of  two  others,  without 
water,  even  in  cool  weather.  During  the  last 
few  miles  the  staggering  horses  were  only  just 
able  to  drag  the  lightly  loaded  wagon, — for 
they  had  but  one  with  them  at  the  time, — 
while  the  men  plodded  along  in  sullen  silence, 
their  mouths  so  parched  that  they  could  hardly 
utter  a  word.  My  own  hunting  and  ranching 
were  done  in  the  north  where  there  is  more 
water ;  so  I  have  never  had  a  similar  experi- 
ence. Once  I  took  a  team  in  thirty-six  hours 
across  a  country  where  there  was  no  water  ; 
but  by  good  luck  it  rained  heavily  in  the 
night,  so  that  the  horses  had  plenty  of  wet 
grass,  and  I  caught  the  rain  in  my  slicker,  and 
so  had  enough  water  for  myself.  Personally, 
I  have  but  once  been  as  long  as  twenty-six 
hours  without  water. 

The  party  pitched  their  permanent  camp  in 
a  canyon  of  the  Brazos  known  as  Canyon  Blan- 
co. The  last  few  days  of  their  journey  they 
travelled  beside  the  river  through  a  veritable 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.    13 

hunter's  paradise.  The  drought  had  forced 
all  the  animals  to  come  to  the  larger  water- 
courses, and  the  country  was  literally  swarm- 
ing with  game.  Eveiy  day,  and  all  day  long, 
the  wagons  travelled  through  the  herds  of 
antelopes  that  grazed  on  every  side,  while, 
whenever  they  approached  the  canyon  brink, 
bands  of  deer  started  from  the  timber  that 
fringed  the  river's  course  ;  often,  even  the  deer 
wandered  out  on  the  prairie  with  the  antelope. 
Nor  was  the  game  shy  ;  for  the  hunters,  both 
red  and  white,  followed  only  the  buffaloes, 
until  the  huge,  shaggy  herds  were  destroyed, 
and  the  smaller  beasts  were  in  consequence 
but  little  molested. 

Once  my  brother  shot  five  antelopes  from 
a  single  stand,  when  the  party  were  short  of 
fresh  venison  ;  he  was  out  of  sight  and  to 
leeward,  and  the  antelopes  seemed  confused 
rather  than  alarmed  at  the  rifle-reports  and  the 
fall  of  their  companions.  As  was  to  be  ex- 
pected where  game  was  so  plenty,  wolves  and 
coyotes  also  abounded.  At  night  they  sus- 
rounded  the  camp,  wailing  and  howling  in  a 
kind  of  shrieking  chorus  throughout  the  hours 
of  darkness  ;  one  night  they  came  up  so  close 
that  the  frightened  horses  had  to  be  hobbled 
and  guarded.  On  another  occasion  a  large 
wolf  actually  crept  into  camp,  where  he  was 
seized  by  the  dogs,  and  the  yelling,  writhing 
knot  of  combatants  rolled  over  one  of  the 
sleepers  ;  finally,  the  long-toothed  prowler 
managed  to  shake  himself  loose,  and  vanished 
in  the  gloom.  One  evening  they  were  almost 


14  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

as  much  startled  by  a  visit  of  a  different  kind. 
They  were  just  finishing  supper  when  an 
Indian  stalked  suddenly  and  silently  out  of 
tfye  surrounding  darkness,  squatted  down  in 
the  circle  of  firelight,  remarked  gravely,  "  Me 
Tonk,"  and  began  helping  himself  from  the 
stew.  He  belonged  to  the  friendly  tribe  of 
Tonkaways,  so  his  hosts  speedily  recovered 
their  equanimity  ;  as  for  him,  he  had  never 
lost  his,  and  he  sat  eating  by  the  fire  until 
there  was  literally  nothing  left  to  eat.  The 
panic  caused  by  his  appearance  was  natural  ; 
for  at  that  time  the  Comanches  were  a  scourge 
to  the  Buffalo-hunters,  ambushing  them  and 
raiding  their  camps ;  and  several  bloody  fights 
had  taken  place. 

Their  camp  had  been  pitched  near  a  deep 
pool  or  water-hole.  On  both  sides  the  bluffs 
rose  like  walls,  and  where  they  had  crumbled 
and  lost  their  sheerness,  the  vast  buffalo  herds, 
passing  and  repassing  for  countless  genera- 
tions, had  worn  furrowed  trails  so  deep  that  the 
backs  of  the  beasts  were  but  little  above  the 
surrounding  soil.  In  the  bottom,  and  in 
places  along  the  crests  of  the  cliffs  that 
hemmed  in  the  canyon-like  valley,  there 
were  groves  of  tangled  trees,  tenanted  by  great 
flocks  of  wild  turkeys.  Once  my  brother  made 
two  really  remarkable  shots  at  a  pair  of  these 
great  birds.  It  was  at  dusk,  and  they  were 
flying  directly  overhead  from  one  cliff  to  the 
other.  He  had  in  his  hand  a  thirty-eight  cali- 
bre Ballard  rifle,  and,  as  the  gobblers  winged 
their  way  heavily  by,  he  brought  both  down 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.    15 

with  two  successive  bullets.  This  was  of 
course  mainly  a  piece  of  mere  luck  ;  but  it 
meant  good  shooting,  too.  The  Ballard  was 
a  very  accurate,  handy  little  weapon  ;  it  be- 
longed to  me,  and  was  the  first  rifle  I  ever 
owned  or  used.  With  it  I  had  once  killed 
a  deer,  the  only  specimen  of  large  game  I 
had  then  shot  ;  and  I  presented  the  rifle  to 
my  brother  when  he  went  to  Texas.  In  our 
happy  ignorance  we  deemed  it  quite  good 
enough  for  Buffalo  or  anything  else  ;  but  out 
on  the  plains  my  brother  soon  found  himself 
forced  to  procure  a  heavier  and  more  deadly 
weapon. 

When  camp  was  pitched  the  horses  were 
turned  loose  to  graze  and  refresh  them- 
selves after  their  trying  journey,  during  which 
they  had  lost  flesh  wofully.  They  were 
watched  and  tended  by  the  two  men  who  were 
always  left  in  camp,  and,  save  on  rare  occa- 
sions, were  only  used  to  haul  in  the  buffalo 
hides.  The  camp-guards  for  the  time  being 
acted  as  cooks  ;  and,  though  coffee  and  flour 
both  ran  short  and  finally  gave  out,  fresh  meat 
of  every  kind  was  abundant.  The  camp  was 
never  without  buffalo-beef,  deer  and  antelope 
venison,  wild  turkeys,  prairie-chickens,  quails, 
ducks,  and  rabbits.  The  birds  were  simply 
"potted,"  as  occasion  required;  when  the 
quarry  was  deer  or  antelope,  the  hunters  took 
the  dogs  with  them  to  run  down  the  wounded 
animals.  But  almost  the  entire  attention  of 
the  hunters  was  given  to  the  buffalo.  After 
an  evening  spent  in  lounging  round  the  camp 


1 6  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

fire  and  a  sound  night's  sleep,  wrapped  in 
robes  and  blankets,  they  would  get  up  before 
daybreak,  snatch  a  hurried  breakfast,  and 
start  off  in  couples  through  the  chilly  dawn. 
The  great  beasts  were  very  plentiful ;  in  the 
first  day's  hunt  twenty  were  slain ;  but  the 
herds  were  restless  and  ever  on  the  move. 
Sometimes  they  would  be  seen  right  by  the 
camp,  and  again  it  would  need  an  all-day's 
tramp  to  find  them.  There  was  no  difficulty 
in  spying  them — the  chief  trouble  with  forest 
game ;  for  on  the  prairie  a  buffalo  makes  no 
effort  to  hide  and  its  black,  shaggy  bulk  looms 
up  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see.  Sometimes  they 
were  found  in  small  parties  of  three  or  four 
individuals,  sometimes  in  bands  of  about  two 
hundred,  and  again  in  great  herds  of  many 
thousands;  and  solitary  old  bulls,  expelled 
from  the  herds,  were  common.  If  on  broken 
land,  among  hills  and  ravines,  there  was  not 
much  difficulty  in  approaching  from  the  lee- 
ward ;  for,  though  the  sense  of  smell  in  the 
buffalo  is  very  acute,  they  do  not  see  well  at 
a  distance  through  their  overhanging  frontlets 
of  coarse  and  matted  hair.  If,  as  was  gener- 
ally the  case,  they  were  out  on  the  open, 
rolling  prairie,  the  stalking  was  far  more  diffi- 
cult. Every  hollow,  every  earth  hummock 
and  sagebush  had  to  be  used  as  cover.  The 
hunter  wriggled  through  the  grass  flat  on  his 
face,  pushing  himself  along  for  perhaps  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  by  his  toes  and  fingers, 
heedless  of  the  spiny  cactus.  When  near 
enough  to  the  huge,  unconscious  quarry  the 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.    17 

hunter  began  firing,  still  keeping  himself 
carefully  concealed.  If  the  smoke  was  blown 
away  by  the  wind,  and  if  the  buffaloes  caught 
no  glimpse  of  the  assailant,  they  would  often 
stand  motionless  and  stupid  until  many  of 
their  number  had  been  slain,  the  hunter  being 
careful  not  to  fire  too  high,  aiming  just  behind 
the  shoulder,  about  a  third  of  the  way  up  the 
body,  that  his  bullet  might  go  through  the 
lungs.  Sometimes,  even  after  they  saw  the 
man,  they  would  act  as  if  confused  and  panic- 
struck,  huddling  together  and  staring  at  the 
smoke  puffs ;  but  generally  they  were  off  at  a 
lumbering  gallop  as  soon  as  they  had  an  idea 
of  the  point  of  danger.  When  once  started, 
they  ran  for  many  miles  before  halting,  and 
their  pursuit  on  foot  was  extremely  laborious. 
One  morning  my  cousin  and  brother  had 
been  left  in  camp  as  guards.  They  were 
sitting  idly  warming  themselves  in  the  first 
sunbeams,  when  their  attention  was  sharply 
drawn  to  four  buffaloes  that  were  coming  to 
the  pool  to  drink.  The  beasts  came  down  a 
game  trail,  a  deep  rut  in  the  bluff,  fronting 
where  they  were  sitting,  and  they  did  not  dare 
to  stir  for  fear  of  being  discovered.  The 
buffaloes  walked  into  the  pool,  and  after  drink- 
ing their  fill,  stood  for  some  time  with  the 
water  running  out  of  their  mouths,  idly  lashing 
their  sides  with  their  short  tails,  enjoying  the 
bright  warmth  of  the  early  sunshine  ;  then, 
with  much  splashing  and  the  gurgling  of  soft 
mud,  they  left  the  pool  and  clambered  up  the 
bluff  with  unwieldy  agility.  As  soon  as  they 
a 


l8  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

turned,  my  brother  and  cousin  ran  for  their 
rifles,  but  before  they  got  back  the  buffaloes 
had  crossed  the  bluff  crest.  Climbing  after 
them,  the  two  hunters  found,  when  they 
reached  the  summit,  that  their  game,  instead 
of  halting,  had  struck  straight  off  across  the 
prairie  at  a  slow  lope,  doubtless  intending  to 
rejoin  the  herd  they  had  left.  After  a  mo- 
ment's consultation  the  men  went  in  pursuit, 
excitement  overcoming  their  knowledge  that 
they  ought  not,  by  rights,  to  leave  camp. 
They  struck  a  steady  trot,  following  the 
animals  by  sight  until  they  passed  over  a  knoll, 
and  then  trailing  them.  Where  the  grass  was 
long,  as  it  was  for  the  first  four  or  five  miles, 
this  was  a  work  of  no  difficulty,  and  they  did 
not  break  their  gait,  only  glancing  now  and 
then  at  the  trail.  As  the  sun  rose  and  the  day 
became  warm,  their  breathing  grew  quicker ; 
and  the  sweat  rolled  off  their  faces  as  they 
ran  across  the  rough  prairie  sward,  up  and 
down  the  long  inclines,  now  and  then  shifting 
their  heavy  rifles  from  one  shoulder  to  the 
other.  But  they  were  in  good  training,  and 
they  did  not  have  to  halt.  At  last  they  reached 
stretches  of  bare  ground,  sun-baked  and  grass- 
less,  where  the  trail  grew  dim  ;  and  here  they 
had  to  go  very  slowly,  carefully  examining  the 
faint  dents  and  marks  made  in  the  soil  by  the 
heavy  hoofs,  and  unravelling  the  trail  from  the 
mass  of  old  footmarks.  It  was  tedious  work, 
but  it  enabled  them  to  completely  recover  their 
breath  by  the  time  that  they  again  struck  the 
grassland  ;  and  but  a  few  hundred  yards  from 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.    19 

its  edge,  in  a  slight  hollow,  they  saw  the  four 
buffaloes  just  entering  a  herd  of  fifty  or  sixty 
that  were  scattered  out  grazing.  The  herd 
paid  no  attention  to  the  new-comers,  and  these 
immediately  began  to  feed  greedily.  After 
a  whispered  consultation,  the  two  hunters  crept 
back,  and  made  a  long  circle  that  brought 
them  well  to  leeward  of  the  herd,  in  line  with 
a  slight  rise  in  the  ground.  They  then  crawled 
up  to  this  rise  and,  peering  through  the  tufts 
of  tall,  rank  grass,  saw  the  unconscious  beasts 
a  hundred  and  twenty-five  or  fifty  yards  away. 
They  fired  together,  each  mortally  wounding 
his  animal,  and  then,  rushing  in  as  the  herd 
halted  in  confusion,  and  following  them  as 
they  ran,  impeded  by  numbers,  hurry;  and 
panic,  they  eventually  got  three  more. 

On  another  occasion  the  same  two  hunters 
nearly  met  with  a  frightful  death,  being  over- 
taken by  a  vast  herd  of  stampeded  buffaloes. 
All  animals  that  go  in  herds  are  subject  to 
these  instanteous  attacks  of  uncontrollable 
terror,  under  the  influence  of  which  they  be- 
come perfectly  mad,  and  rush  headlong  in 
dense  masses  on  any  form  of  death.  Horses, 
and  more  especially  cattle,  often  suffer  from 
stampedes  ;  it  is  a  danger  against  which  the 
cowboys  are  compelled  to  be  perpetually  on 
guard.  A  band  of  stampeded  horses,  sweep- 
ing in  mad  terror  up  a  valley,  will  dash  against 
a  rock  or  tree  with  such  violence  as  to  leave 
several  dead  animals  at  its  base,  while  the 
survivors  race  on  without  halting;  they  will 
overturn  and  destroy  tents  and  wagons,  and  a 


20  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

man  on  foot  caught  in  the  rush  has  but  a 
small  chance  for  his  life.  A  buffalo  stampede 
is  much  worse — or  rather  was  much  worse,  in 
the  old  days — because  of  the  great  weight 
and  immense  numbers  of  the  beasts,  which, 
in  a  fury  of  heedless  terror,  plunged  over 
cliffs  and  into  rivers,  and  bore  down  what- 
ever was  in  their  path.  On  the  occasion  in 
question,  my  brother  and  cousin  were  on 
their  way  homeward.  They  were  just  mount- 
ing one  of  the  long,  low  swells,  into  which 
the  prairie  was  broken,  when  they  heard  a 
low,  muttering,  rumbling  noise,  like  far-off 
thunder.  It  grew  steadily  louder,  and,  not 
knowing  what  it  meant,  they  hurried  forward 
to  the  top  of  the  rise.  As  they  reached  it, 
they  stopped  short  in  terror  and  amazement, 
for  before  them  the  whole  prairie  was  black 
with  madly  rushing  buffaloes. 

Afterward  they  learned  that  another  couple 
of  hunters,  four  or  five  miles  off,  had  fired 
into  and  stampeded  a  large  herd.  This  herd, 
in  its  rush,  gathered  others,  all  thundering 
along  together  in  uncontrollable  and  increas- 
ing panic. 

The  surprised  hunters  were  far  away  from 
any  broken  ground  or  other  place  of  refuge, 
while  the  vast  herd  of  huge,  plunging,  mad- 
dened beasts  was  charging  straight  down  on 
them  not  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant.  Down 
they  came  ! — thousands  upon  thousands,  their 
front  extending  a  mile  in  breadth,  while  the 
earth  shook  beneath  their  thunderous  gallop, 
and,  as  they  came  closer,  their  shaggy  front 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN'  BUFFALO.    2! 

lets  loomed  dimly  through  the  columns  of 
dust  thrown  up  from  the  dry  soil.  The  two 
hunters  knew  that  their  only  hope  for  life  was 
to  split  the  herd,  which,  though  it  had  so 
broad  a  front,  was  not  very  deep.  If  they 
failed  they  would  inevitably  be  trampled  to 
death. 

Waiting  until  the  beasts  were  in  close 
range,  they  opened  a  rapid  fire  from  their 
heavy  breech-loading  rifles,  yelling  at  the  top 
of  their  voices.  For  a  moment  the  result 
seemed  doubtful.  The  line  thundered  steadily 
down  on  them ;  then  it  swayed  violently,  as 
two  or  three  of  the  brutes  immediately  in 
their  front  fell  beneath  the  bullets,  while 
their  neighbors  made  violent  efforts  to  press 
off  sideways.  Then  a  narrow  wedge-shaped 
rift  appeared  in  the  line,  and  widened  as  it 
came  closer,  and  the  buffaloes,  shrinking  from 
their  foes  in  front,  strove  desperately  to  edge 
away  from  the  dangerous  neighborhood  ;  the 
shouts  and  shots  were  redoubled ;  the  hunters 
were  almost  choked  by  the  cloud  of  dust, 
through  which  they  could  see  the  stream  of 
dark  huge  bodies  passing  within  rifle-length 
on  either  side ;  and  in  a  moment  the  peril  was 
over,  and  the  two  men  were  left  alone  on  the 
plain,  unharmed,  though  with  their  nerves 
terribly  shaken.  The  herd  careered  on  to- 
ward the  horizon,  save  five  individuals  which 
had  been  killed  or  disabled  by  the  shots. 

On  another  occasion,  when  my  brother  was 
out  with  one  of  his  friends,  they  fired  at  a 
small  herd  containing  an  old  bull ;  the  bull 


22  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

charged  the  smoke,  and  the  whole  herd  fol- 
lowed him.  Probably  they  were  simply  stam- 
peded, and  had  no  hostile  intention ;  at  any 
rate,  after  the  death  of  their  leader,  they 
rushed  by  without  doing  any  damage. 

But  buffaloes  sometimes  charged  with  the 
utmost  determination,  and  were  then  danger- 
ous antagonists.  My  cousin,  a  very  hardy 
and  resolute  hunter,  had  a  narrow  escape 
from  a  wounded  cow  which  he  followed  up  a 
steep  bluff  or  sand  cliff.  Just  as  he  reached 
the  summit,  he  was  charged,  and  was  only 
saved  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  his  dog, 
which  distracted  the  cow's  attention.  He 
thus  escaped  with  only  a  tumble  and  a  few 
bruises. 

My  brother  also  came  in  for  a  charge, 
while  killing  the  biggest  bull  that  was  slain 
by  any  of  the  party.  He  was  out  alone,  and 
saw  a  small  herd  of  cows  and  calves  at  some 
distance,  with  a  huge  bull  among  them,  tower- 
ing above  them  like  a  giant.  There  was  no 
break  in  the  ground,  nor  any  tree  nor  bush 
near  them,  but,  by  making  a  half-circle,  my 
brother  managed  to  creep  up  against  the  wind 
behind  a  slight  roll  in  the  prairie  surface,  until 
he  was  within  seventy-five  yards  of  the  graz- 
ing and  unconscious  beasts.  There  were 
some  cows  and  calves  between  him  and  the 
bull,  and  he  had  to  wait  some  moments  be- 
fore they  shifted  position,  as  the  herd  grazed 
onward  and  gave  him  a  fair  shot ;  in  the  in- 
terval they  had  moved  so  far  forward  that  he 
was  in  plain  view.  His  first  bullet  struck 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.   23 

just  behind  the  shoulder;  the  herd  started 
and  looked  around,  but  the  bull  merely  lifted 
his  head  and  took  a  step  forward,  his  tail 
curled  up  over  his  back.  The  next  bullet 
likewise  struck  fair,  nearly  in  the  same  place, 
telling  with  a  loud  "  pack !  "  against  the  thick 
hide,  and  making  the  dust  fly  up  from  the 
matted  hair.  Instantly  the  great  bull  wheeled 
and  charged  in  headlong  anger,  while  the 
herd  fled  in  the  opposite  direction.  On  the 
bare  prairie,  with  no  spot  of  refuge,  it  was 
useless  to  try  to  escape,  and  the  hunter,  with 
reloaded  rifle,  waited  until  the  bull  was  not 
far  off,  then  drew  up  his  weapon  and  fired. 
Either  he  was  nervous,  or  the  bull  at  the  mo- 
ment bounded  over  some  obstacle,  for  the 
ball  went  a  little  wild  ;  nevertheless,  by  good 
luck,  it  broke  a  fore-leg,  and  the  great  beast 
came  crashing  to  the  earth,  and  was  slain  be- 
fore it  could  struggle  to  its  feet. 

Two  days  after  this  event,  a  war  party  of 
Comanches  swept  down  along  the  river. 
They  "  jumped  "  a  neighboring  camp,  killing 
one  man  and  wounding  two  more,  and  at  the 
same  time  ran  off  all  but  three  of  the  horses 
belonging  to  our  eight  adventurers.  With  the 
remaining  three  horses  and  one  wagon  they 
set  out  homeward.  The  march  was  hard  and 
tedious ;  they  lost  their  way  and  were  in 
jeopardy  from  quicksands  and  cloudbursts ; 
they  suffered  from  thirst  and  cold,  their  shoes 
gave  out,  and  their  feet  were  lamed  by  cactus 
spines.  At  last  they  reached  Fort  Griffen  in 
safety,  and  great  was  their  ravenous  rejoicing 


24  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

when  they  procured  some  bread — for  during 
the  final  fortnight  of  the  hunt  they  had  been 
without  flour  or  vegetables  of  any  kind,  or 
even  coffee,  and  had  subsisted  on  fresh  meat 
"  straight."  Nevertheless,  it  was  a  very 
healthy,  as  well  as  a  very  pleasant  and  excit- 
ing experience ;  and  I  doubt  if  any  of  those 
who  took  part  in  it  will  ever  forget  their  great 
buffalo-hunt  on  the  Brazos. 

My  friend,  Gen.  W.  H.  Walker,  of  Virginia, 
had  an  experience  in  the  early  '50*8  with  buf- 
faloes on  the  upper  Arkansas  River,  which 
gives  some  idea  of  their  enormous  numbers  at 
that  time.  He  was  camped  with  a  scouting 
party  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  had  gone 
out  to  try  to  shoot  some  meat.  There  were 
many  buffaloes  in  sight,  scattered,  according 
to  their  custom,  in  large  bands.  When  he 
was  a  mile  or  two  away  from  the  river  a  dull 
roaring  sound  in  the  distance  attracted  his 
attention,  and  he  saw  that  a  herd  of  buffalo 
far  to  the  south,  away  from  the  river,  had 
been  stampeded  and  was  running  his  way. 
He  knew  that  if  he  was  caught  in  the  open 
by  the  stampeded  herd  his  chance  for  life 
would  be  small,  and  at  once  ran  for  the  river. 
By  desperate  efforts  he  reached  the  breaks  in 
the  sheer  banks  just  as  the  buffaloes  reached 
them,  and  got  into  a  position  of  safety  on  the 
pinnacle  of  a  little  bluff.  From  this  point  of 
vantage  he  could  see  the  entire  plain.  To 
the  very  verge  of  the  horizon  the  brown 
masses  of  the  buffalo  bands  showed  through 
the  dust  clouds,  coming  on  with  a  thunderous 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN-  BUFFALO.    25 

roar  like  that  of  surf.  Camp  was  a  mile 
away,  and  the  stampede  luckily  passed  to  one 
side  of  it.  Watching  his  chance  he  finally 
dodged  back  to  the  tent,  and  all  that  after- 
noon watched  the  immense  masses  of  buffalo, 
as  band  after  band  tore  to  the  brink  of  the 
bluffs  on  one  side,  raced  down  them,  rushed 
through  the  water,  up  the  bluffs  on  the  other 
side,  and  again  off  over  the  plain,  churning 
the  sandy,  shallow  stream  into  a  ceaseless 
tumult.  When  darkness  fell  there  was  no  ap- 
parent decrease  in  the  numbers  that  were  pass- 
ing, and  all  through  that  night  the  continuous 
roar  showed  that  the  herds  were  still  thresh- 
ing across  the  river.  Towards  dawn  the  sound 
at  last  ceased,  and  General  Walker  arose 
somewhat  irritated,  as  he  had  reckoned  on 
killing  an  ample  supply  of  meat,  and  he  sup- 
posed that  there  would  be  now  no  bison  left 
south  of  the  river.  To  his  astonishment, 
when  he  strolled  up  on  the  bluffs  and  looked 
over  the  plain,  it  was  still  covered  far  and 
wide  with  groups  of  buffalo,  grazing  quietly. 
Apparently  there  were  as  many  on  that  side 
as  ever,  in  spite  of  the  many  scores  of  thou- 
sands that  must  have  crossed  over  the  river 
during  the  stampede  of  the  afternoon  and 
night.  The  barren-ground  caribou  is  the 
only  American  animal  which  is  now  ever  seen 
in  such  enormous  herds. 

In  1862  Mr.  Clarence  King,  while  riding 
along  the  overland  trail  through  western  Kan- 
sas, passed  through  a  great  buffalo  herd,  and 
was  himself  injured  in  an  encounter  with  a 


26  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

bull.  The  great  herd  was  then  passing  north, 
and  Mr.  King  reckoned  that  it  must  have  cov- 
ered an  area  nearly  seventy  miles  by  thirty  in 
extent ;  the  figures  representing  his  rough 
guess,  made  after  travelling  through  the  herd 
crosswise,  and  upon  knowing  how  long  it  took 
to  pass  a  given  point  going  northward.  This 
great  herd  of  course  was  not  a  solid  mass  of 
buffaloes  ;  it  consisted  of  innumerable  bands 
of  every  size,  dotting  the  prairie  within  the 
limits  given.  Mr.  King  was  mounted  on  a 
somewhat  unmanageable  horse.  On  one  oc- 
casion in  following  a  band  he  wounded  a  large 
bull,  and  became  so  wedged  in  by  the  mad- 
dened animals  that  he  was  unable  to  avoid 
the  charge  of  the  bull,  which  was  at  its  last 
gasp.  Coming  straight  toward  him  it  leaped 
into  the  air  and  struck  the  afterpart  of  the 
saddle  full  with  its  massive  forehead.  The 
horse  was  hurled  to  the  ground  with  a  broken 
back,  and  King's  leg  was  likewise  broken, 
while  the  bull  turned  a  complete  somerset 
over  them  and  never  rose  again. 

In  the  recesses  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
from  Colorado  northward  through  Alberta, 
and  in  the  depths  of  the  subarctic  forest  be- 
yond the  Saskatchewan,  there  have  always 
been  found  small  numbers  of  the  bison,  locally 
called  the  mountain  buffalo  and  wood  buffalo ; 
often  indeed  the  old  hunters  term  these  ani- 
mals "  bison, "  although  they  never  speak  of 
the  plains  animals  save  as  buffalo.  They 
form  a  slight  variety  of  what  was  formerly  the 
ordinary  plains  bison,  intergrading  with  it ;  on 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.  27 

the  whole  they  are  darker  in  color,  with  longer, 
thicker  hair,  and  in  consequence  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  being  heavier-bodied  and  shorter- 
legged.  They  have  been  sometimes  spoken 
of  as  forming  a  separate  species  ;  but,  judging 
from  my  own  limited  experience,  and  from  a 
comparison  of  the  many  hides  I  have  seen,  I 
think  they  are  really  the  same  animal,  many 
individuals  of  the  two  so-called  varieties  being 
quite  indistinguishable.  In  fact  the  only 
moderate-sized  herd  of  wild  bison  in  existence 
to-day,  the  protected  herd  in  the  Yellowstone 
Park,  is  composed  of  animals  intermediate  in 
habits  and  coat  between  the  mountain  and 
plains  varieties — as  were  all  the  herds  of  the 
Bighorn,  Big  Hole,  Upper  Madison,  and  Up- 
per Yellowstone  valleys. 

However,  the  habitat  of  these  wood  and 
mountain  bison  yielded  them  shelter  from 
hunters  in  a  way  that  the  plains  never  could, 
and  hence  they  have  always  been  harder  to 
kill  in  the  one  place  than  in  the  other;  for 
precisely  the  same  reasons  that  have  held 
good  with  the  elk,  which  have  been  completely 
exterminated  from  the  plains,  while  still  abun- 
dant in  many  of  the  forest  fastnesses  of  the 
Rockies.  Moreover,  the  bison's  dull  eyesight 
is  no  special  harm  in  the  woods,  while  it  is 
peculiarly  hurtful  to  the  safety  of  any  beast 
on  the  plains,  where  eyesight  avails  more  than 
any  other  sense,  the  true  game  of  the  plains 
being  the  prong-buck,  the  most  keen-sighted 
of  American  animals.  On  the  other  hand  the 
bison's  hearing,  of  little  avail  on  the  plains,  is 


28  '  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

of  much  assistance  in  the  woods ;  and  its  ex- 
cellent nose  helps  equally  in  both  places. 

Though  it  was  always  more  difficult  to  kill 
the  bison  of  the  forests  and  mountains  than 
the  bison  of  the  prairie,  yet  now  that  the 
species  is,  in  its  wild  state,  hovering  on  the 
brink  of  extinction,  the  difficulty  is  immeasur- 
ably increased.  A  merciless  and  terrible 
process  of  natural  selection,  in  which  the 
agents  were  rifle-bearing  hunters,  has  left  as 
the  last  survivors  in  a  hopeless  struggle  for 
existence  only  the  wariest  of  the  bison  and 
those  gifted  with  the  sharpest  senses.  That 
this  was  true  of  the  last  lingering  individuals 
that  survived  the  great  slaughter  on  the  plains 
is  well  shown  by  Mr.  Hornaday  in  his  graphic 
account  of  his  campaign  against  the  few  scat- 
tered buffalo  which  still  lived  in  1886  between 
the  Missouri  and  the  Yellowstone,  along  the 
Big  Dry.  The  bison  of  the  plains  and  the 
prairies  have  now  vanished;  and  so  few  of 
their  brethren  of  the  mountains  and  the  north- 
ern forests  are  left,  that  they  can  just  barely 
be  reckoned  among  American  game ;  but  who- 
ever is  so  fortunate  as  to  find  any  of  these 
animals  must  work  his  hardest,  and  show  all 
his  skill  as  a  hunter  if  he  wishes  to  get  one. 

In  the  fall  of  1889  I  heard  that  a  very  few 
bison  were  still  left  around  the  head  of  Wis- 
dom River.  Thither  i  went  and  hunted  faith- 
fully ;  there  was  plenty  of  game  of  other  kind, 
but  of  bison  not  a  trace  did  we  see.  Never- 
theless a  few  days  later  that  same  year  I  came 
across  these  great  wild  cattle  at  a  time  when 
I  had  no  idea  of  seeing  them. 


THE  BISON'  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.    29 

It  was,  as  nearly  as  we  could  tell,  in  Idaho, 
just  south  of  the  Montana  boundary  line,  and 
some  twenty-five  miles  west  of  the  line  of 
Wyoming.  We  were  camped  high  among  the 
mountains,  with  a  small  pack-train.  On  the 
day  in  question  we  had  gone  out  to  find  moose, 
but  had  seen  no  sign  of  them,  and  had  then  be- 
gun  to  climb  over  the  higher  peaks  with  an  idea 
of  getting  sheep.  The  old  hunter  who  was 
with  me  was,  very  fortunately,  suffering  from 
rheumatism,  and  he  therefore  carried  a  long 
staff  instead  of  his  rifle ;  I  say  fortunately,  for 
if  he  had  carried  his  rifle  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible to  stop  his  firing  at  such  game  as  bison, 
nor  would  he  have  spared  the  cows  and  calves. 

About  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  we 
crossed  a  low,  rocky  ridge,  above  timber  line, 
and  saw  at  our  feet  a  basin  or  round  valley 
of  singular  beauty.  Its  walls  were  formed  by 
steep  mountains.  At  its  upper  end  lay  a 
small  lake,  bordered  on  one  side  by  a  meadow 
of  emerald  green.  The  lake's  other  side 
marked  the  edge  of  the  frowning  pine  forest 
which  filled  the  rest  of  the  valley,  and  hung 
high  on  the  sides  of  the  gorge  which  formed 
its  outlet.  Beyond  the  lake  the  ground  rose 
in  a  pass  evidently  much  frequented  by  game 
in  bygone  days,  their  trails  lying  along  it  in 
thick  zigzags,  each  gradually  fading  out  after 
a  few  hundred  yards,  and  then  starting  again 
in  a  little  different  place,  as  game  trails  so 
often  seem  to  do. 

We  bent  our  steps  towards  these  trails,  and 
po  sooner  had  we  reached  the  first  than  the 


30  HUNTING  THE  GKISLY. 

old  hunter  bent  over  it  with  a  sharp  excla- 
mation of  wonder.  There  in  the  dust  were 
the  unmistakable  hoof-marks  of  a  small  band 
of  bison,  apparently  but  a  few  hours  old.  They 
were  headed  towards  the  lake.  There  had 
been  a  half  a  dozen  animals  in  the  party ;  one 
a  big  bull,  and  two  calves. 

We  immediately  turned  and  followed  the 
«;rail.  It  led  down  to  the  little  lake,  where 
the  beasts  had  spread  and  grazed  on  the  ten- 
der, green  blades,  and  had  drunk  their  fill. 
The  footprints  then  came  together  again, 
showing  where  the  animals  had  gathered  and 
walked  off  in  single  file  to  the  forest.  Evi- 
dently they  had  come  to  the  pool  in  the  early 
morning,  walking  over  the  game  pass  from 
some  neighboring  valley,  and  after  drinking 
and  feeding  had  moved  into  the  pine  forest  to 
find  some  spot  for  their  noontide  rest. 

It  was  a  very  still  day,  and  there  were  nearly 
three  hours  of  daylight  left.  Without  a  word 
my  silent  companion,  who  had  1  een  scanning 
the  whole  country  with  hawk-eyed  eagerness, 
besides  scrutinizing  the  sign  on  his  hands  and 
knees,  took  the  trail,  motioning  me  to  follow. 
In  a  moment  we  entered  the  woods,  breathing 
a  sigh  of  relief  as  we  did  so ;  for  while  in  the 
meadow  we  could  never  tell  that  the  buffalo 
might  not  see  us,  if  they  happened  to  be  lying 
in  some  place  with  a  commanding  lookout. 

The  old  hunter  was  thoroughly  roused,  and 
he  showed  himself  a  very  skilful  tracker.  We 
were  much  favored  by  the  character  of  the 
forest,  which  was  rather  open,  and  in  most 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.   31 

places  free  from  undergrowth  and  down  tim- 
ber. As  in  most  Rocky  Mountain  forests  the 
timber  was  small,  not  only  as  compared  to  the 
giant  trees  of  the  groves  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
but  as  compared  to  the  forests  of  the  northeast. 
The  ground  was  covered  with  pine  needles 
and  soft  moss,  so  that  it  was  not  difficult  to 
walk  noiselessly.  Once  or  twice  when  I  trod 
on  a  small  dry  twig,  or  let  the  nails  in  my 
shoes  clink  slightly  against  a  stone,  the  hunter 
turned  to  me  with  a  frown  of  angry  impatience ; 
but  as  he  walked  slowly,  continually  halting  to 
look  ahead,  as  well  as  stooping  over  to  examine 
the  trail,  I  did  not  find  it  very  difficult  to  move 
silently.  I  kept  a  little  behind  him,  and  to  one 
side,  save  when  he  crouched  to  take  advantage 
of  some  piece  of  cover,  and  I  crept  in  his  foot- 
steps. I  did  not  look  at  the  trail  at  all,  but 
kept  watching  ahead,  hoping  at  any  moment  to 
see  the  game. 

It  was  not  very  long  before  we  struck  their 
day  beds,  which  were  made  on  a  knoll,  where 
the  forest  was  open  and  where  there  was  much 
down  timber.  After  leaving  the  day  beds  the 
animals  had  at  first  fed  separately  around  the 
grassy  base  and  sides  of  the  knoll,  and  had 
then  made  off  in  their  usual  single  file,  going 
straight  to  a  small  pool  in  the  forest.  After 
drinking  they  had  left  this  pool,  and  travelled 
down  towards  the  gorge  at  the  mouth  of  the 
basin,  the  trail  leading  along  the  sides  of  the 
steep  hill,  which  were  dotted  by  open  glades ; 
while  the  roar  of  the  cataracts  by  which  the 
stream  was  broken  ascended  from  below. 


32  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Here  we  moved  with  redoubled  caution,  for 
the  sign  had  grown  very  fresh  and  the  animals 
had  once  more  scattered  and  begun  feeding. 
When  the  trail  led  across  the  glades  we  usually 
skirted  them  so  as  to  keep  in  the  timber. 

At  last,  on  nearing  the  edge  of  one  of  these 
glades  we  saw  a  movement  among  the  youn^ 
trees  on  the  other  side,  not  fifty  yards  away 
Peering  through  the  safe  shelter  yielded  b) 
some  thick  evergreen  bushes,  we  speedily 
made  out  three  bison,  a  cow,  a  calf,  and  a 
yearling,  grazing  greedily  on  the  other  side  of 
the  glade,  under  the  fringing  timber ;  all  with 
their  heads  up  hill.  Soon  another  cow  and 
calf  stepped  out  after  them.  I  did  not  wish 
to  shoot,  waiting  for  the  appearance  of  the  big 
bull  which  I  knew  was  accompanying  them. 

So  for  several  minutes  I  watched  the  great, 
clumsy,  shaggy  beasts,  as  all  unconscious  they 
grazed  in  the  open  glade.  Behind  them  rose 
the  dark  pines.  At  the  left  of  the  glade  the 
ground  fell  away  to  form  the  side  of  a  chasm ; 
down  in  its  depths  the  cataracts  foamed  and 
thundered;  beyond,  the  huge  mountains 
towered,  their  crests  crimsoned  by  the  sinking 
sun.  Mixed  with  the  eager  excitement  of  the 
hunter  was  a  certain  half  melancholy  feeling 
as  I  gazed  on  these  bison,  themselves  part  of 
the  last  remnant  of  a  doomed  and  nearly 
vanished  race.  Few,  indeed,  are  the  men  who 
now  have,  or  evermore  shall  have,  the  chance 
of  seeing  the  mightiest  of  American  beasts, 
in  all  his  wild  vigor,  surrounded  by  the  tremen- 
dous desolation  of  his  far-off  mountain  home, 


THE  BISON  OR  AMERICAN  BUFFALO.   33 

At  last,  when  I  had  begun  to  grow  very 
Anxious  lest  the  others  should  take  alarm,  the 
hull  likewise  appeared  on  the  edge  of  the 
glade,  and  stood  with  outstretched  head, 
scratching  his  throat  against  a  young  tree, 
which  shook  violently.  I  aimed  low,  behind 
his  shoulder,  and  pulled  trigger.  At  the 
crack  of  the  rifle  all  the  bison,  without  the 
momentary  halt  of  terror-struck  surprise  so 
common  among  game,  turned  and  raced  off 
at  headlong  speed.  The  fringe  of  young 
pines  beyond  and  below  the  glade  cracked 
and  swayed  as  if  a  whirlwind  were  passing, 
and  in  another  moment  they  reached  the  top 
of  a  very  steep  incline,  thickly  strewn  with 
boulders  and  dead  timber.  Down  this  they 
plunged  with  reckless  speed ;  their  surefooted- 
ness  was  a  marvel  in  such  seemingly  unwieldy 
beasts.  A  column  of  dust  obscured  their  pas- 
sage, and  under  its  cover  they  disappeared  in 
the  forest ;  but  the  trail  of  the  bull  was  marked 
by  splashes  of  frothy  blood,  and  we  followed 
it  at  a  trot.  Fifty  yards  beyond  the  border 
of  the  forest  we  found  the  stark  black  body 
stretched  motionless.  He  was  a  splendid  old 
bull,  still  in  his  full  vigor,  with  large,  sharp 
horns,  and  heavy  mane  and  glossy  coat ;  and 
I  felt  the  most  exulting  pride  as  I  handled 
and  examined  him ;  for  I  had  procured  a 
trophy  such  as  can  fall  henceforth  to  few  hunt- 
ers indeed. 

It  was  too  late  to  dress  the  beast  that  even- 
ing ;  so,  after  taking  out  the  tongue  and  cut- 
ting off  enough  meat  for  supper  and  break* 

3 


34  HUNTING  7   rE  GRISLY. 

fast,  we  scrambled  down  to  near  the  torrent, 
and  after  some  search  found  a  good  spot  foi 
camping.  Hot  and  dusty  from  the  day's  hard 
tramp,  I  undressed  and  took  a  plunge  in  the 
stream,  the  icy  water  making  me  gasp.  Then, 
having  built  a  slight  lean-to  of  brush,  and 
dragged  together  enough  dead  timber  to  burn 
all  night,  we  cut  long  alder  twigs,  sat  down 
before  some  embers  raked  apart,  and  grilled 
and  ate  our  buffalo  meat  with  the  utmost  rel- 
ish. Night  had  fallen  ;  a  cold  wind  blew  up 
the  valley;  the  torrent  roared  as  it  leaped 
past  us,  and  drowned  our  words  as  we  strove 
to  talk  over  our  adventures  and  success  ;  while 
the  flame  of  the  fire  flickered  and  danced, 
lighting  up  with  continual  vivid  flashes  the 
gloom  of  the  forest  round  about 


THE  BLACK  BEAR  35 


CHAPTER  IL 

THE  BLACK  BEAR. 

NEXT  to  the  whitetail  deer  the  black  bear 
is  the  commonest  and  most  widely  dis- 
tributed of  American  big  game.  It  is  still 
found  quite  plentifully  in  northern  New  Eng- 
land, in  the  Adirondacks,  Catskills,  and  along 
the  entire  length  of  the  Alleghanies,  as  well 
as  in  the  swamps  and  canebrakes  of  the  south- 
ern States.  It  is  also  common  in  the  great 
forests  of  northern  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
Minnesota,  and  throughout  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains and  the  timbered  ranges  of  the  Pacific 
coast.  In  the  East  it  has  always  ranked 
second  only  to  the  deer  among  the  beasts  of 
chase.  The  bear  and  the  buck  were  the  staple 
objects  of  pursuit  of  all  the  old  hunters. 
They  were  more  plentiful  than  the  bison  and 
elk  even  in  the  long  vanished  days  when  these 
two  great  monarchs  of  the  forest  still  ranged 
eastward  to  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.  The 
wolf  and  the  cougar  were  always  too  scarce 
and  too  shy  to  yield  much  profit  to  the  hunt- 
er. The  black  bear  is  a  timid,  cowardly 
animal,  and  usually  a  vegetarian,  though  it 
sometimes  preys  on  the  sheep,  hogs,  and  even 
cattle  of  the  settler,  and  is  very  fond  of  raid- 


36  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

ing  his  corn  and  melons.  Its  meat  is  good 
and  its  fur  often  valuable ;  and  in  its  chase 
there  is  much  excitement,  and  occasionally  a 
slight  spice  of  danger,  just  enough  to  render 
it  attractive ;  so  it  has  always  been  eagerly 
followed.  Yet  it  still  holds  its  own,  though 
in  greatly  diminished  numbers,  in  the  more 
thinly  settled  portions  of  the  country.  One 
of  the  standing  riddles  of  American  zoology 
is  the  fact  that  the  black  bear,  which  is  easier 
killed  and  less  prolific  than  the  wolf,  should 
hold  its  own  in  the  land  better  than  the  lat- 
ter, this  being  directly  the  reverse  of  what 
occurs  in  Europe,  where  the  brown  bear  is 
generally  exterminated  before  the  wolf. 

In  a  few  wild  spots  in  the  East,  in  northern 
Maine  for  instance,  here  and  there  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  upper  Great  Lakes,  in 
the  east  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  mountains 
and  the  swamps  of  Florida  and  Mississippi, 
there  still  lingers  an  occasional  representative 
of  the  old  wilderness  hunters.  These  men 
live  in  log-cabins  in  the  wilderness.  They 
do  their  hunting  on  foot,  occasionally  with  the 
help  of  a  single  trailing  dog.  In  Maine  they 
are  as  apt  to  kill  moose  and  caribou  as  bear 
and  deer ;  but  elsewhere  the  two  last,  with  an 
occasional  cougar  or  wolf,  are  the  beasts  of 
chase  which  they  follow.  Nowadays  as  these 
old  hunters  die  there  is  no  one  to  take  their 
places,  though  there  are  still  plenty  of  back- 
woods settlers  in  all  of  the  regions  named  who 
do  a  great  deal  of  hunting  and  trapping.  Such 
an  old  hunter  rarely  makes  his  appearance  at 


THE  BLACK  BEAR.  37 

the  settlements  except  to  dispose  of  his  peltry 
and  hides  in  exchange  for  cartridges  and 
provisions,  and  he  leads  a  life  of  such  lonely 
isolation  as  to  insure  his  individual  character- 
istics developing  into  peculiarities.  Most  of 
the  wilder  districts  in  the  eastern  States  still 
preserve  memories  of  some  such  old  hunter 
who  lived  his  long  life  alone,  waging  ceaseless 
warfare  on  the  vanishing  game,  whose  oddities, 
as  well  as  his  courage,  hardihood,  and  wood- 
craft, are  laughingly  remembered  by  the  older 
settlers,  and  who  is  usually  best  known  as 
having  killed  the  last  wolf  or  bear  or  cougar 
ever  seen  in  the  locality. 

Generally  the  weapon  mainly  relied  on  by 
these  old  hunters  is  the  rifle ;  and  occasion- 
ally some  old  hunter  will  be  found  even  to  this 
day  who  uses  a  muzzle  loader,  such  as  Kit 
Carson  carried  in  the  middle  of  the  century. 
There  are  exceptions  to  this  rule  of  the  rifle 
however.  In  the  years  after  the  Civil  War  one 
of  the  many  noted  hunters  of  southwest  Virginia 
and  east  Tennessee  was  Wilber  Waters,  some- 
times called  The  Hunter  of  White  Top.  He 
often  killed  black  bear  with  a  knife  and  dogs. 
He  spent  all  his  life  in  hunting  and  was  very 
successful,  killing  the  last  gang  of  wolves  to 
be  found  in  his  neighborhood ;  and  he  slew 
innumerable  bears,  with  no  worse  results  to 
himself  than  an  occasional  bite  or  scratch. 

In  the  southern  States  the  planters  living  in 
the  wilder  regions  have  always  been  in  the 
the  habit  of  following  the  black  bear  with 
horse  and  hound,  many  of  them  keeping  regu- 


38  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

lar  packs  of  bear  hounds.  Such  a  pack  in* 
eludes  not  only  pure-bred  hounds,  but  also 
cross-bred  animals,  and  some  sharp,  agile, 
hard-biting  fierce  dogs  and  terriers.  They 
follow  the  bear  and  bring  him  to  bay  but  do 
not  try  to  kill  him,  although  there  are  dogs  of 
the  big  fighting  breeds  which  can  readily 
master  a  black  bear  if  loosed  at  him  three  or 
four  at  a  time ;  but  the  dogs  of  these  southern 
bear-hound  packs  are  not  fitted  for  such  work, 
and  if  they  try  to  close  with  the  bear  he  is 
certain  to  play  havoc  with  them,  disembowelling 
them  with  blows  of  his  paws  or  seizing  them 
in  his  arms  and  biting  through  their  spines  or 
legs.  The  riders  follow  the  hounds  through 
the  canebrakes,  and  also  try  to  make  cutoffs 
and  station  themselves  at  open  points  where 
they  think  the  bear  will  pass,  so  that  they 
may  get  a  shot  at  him.  The  weapons  used 
are  rifles,  shotguns,  and  occasionally  revolvers. 
Sometimes,  however,  the  hunter  uses  the 
knife.  General  Wade  Hampton,  who  has 
probably  killed  more  black  bears  than  any 
other  man  living  in  the  United  States,  fre- 
quently used  the  knife,  slaying  thirty  or  forty 
with  this  weapon.  His  plan  was,  when  he 
found  that  the  dogs  had  the  bear  at  bay,  to 
walk  up  close  and  cheer  them  on.  They 
would  instantly  seize  the  bear  in  a  body,  and 
he  would  then  rush  in  and  stab  it  behind  the 
shoulder,  reaching  over  so  as  to  inflict  the 
wound  on  the  opposite  side  from  that  where 
he  stood.  He  escaped  scathless  from  all  these 
encounters  save  one,  in  which  he  was  rather 


THE  BLACK  BEAR.  39 

severely  torn  in  the  forearm.  Many  other 
hunters  have  used  the  knife,  but  perhaps  none 
so  frequently  as  he ;  for  he  was  always  fond 
of  steel,  as  witness  his  feats  with  the  "  white 
arm  "  during  the  Civil  War. 

General  Hampton  always  hunted  with  large 
packs  of  hounds,  managed  sometimes  by  him- 
self and  sometimes  by  his  negro  hunters.  He 
occasionally  took  out  forty  dogs  at  a  time. 
He  found  that  all  his  dogs  together  could  not 
kill  a  big  fat  bear,  but  they  occasionally  killed 
three-year-olds,  or  lean  and  poor  bears.  During 
the  course  of  his  life  he  has  himself  killed,  or 
been  in  at  the  death  of,  five  hundred  bears, 
at  least  two  thirds  of  them  falling  by  his  own 
hand.  In  the  year  just  before  the  war  he  had 
on  one  occasion,  in  Mississippi,  killed  sixty- 
eight  bears  in  five  months.  Once  he  killed 
four  bears  in  a  day ;  at  another  time  three, 
and  frequently  two.  The  two  largest  bears 
he  himself  killed  weighed,  respectively,  408 
and  410  pounds.  They  were  both  shot  in  Miss- 
issippi. But  he  saw  at  least  one  bear  killed 
which  was  much  larger  than  either  of  these. 
These  figures  were  taken  down  at  the  time, 
when  the  animals  were  actually  weighed  on 
the  scales.  Most  of  his  hunting  for  bear  was 
done  in  northern  Mississippi,  where  one  of 
his  plantations  was  situated,  near  Greenville. 
During  the  half  century  that  he  hunted,  on 
and  off,  in  this  neighborhood,  he  knew  of  two 
instances  where  hunters  were  fatally  wounded 
in  the  chase  of  the  black  bear.  Both  of  the 
men  were  inexperienced  one  being  a  raftsman 


40  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

who  came  down  the  river,  and  the  other  a 
man  from  Vicksburg.  He  was  not  able  to 
learn  the  particulars  in  the  last  case,  but  the 
raftsman  came  too  close  to  a  bear  that  was  at 
bay,  and  it  broke  through  the  dogs,  rushed  at 
and  overthrew  him,  then  lying  on  him,  it  bit 
him  deeply  in  the  thigh,  through  the  femoral 
artery,  so  that  he  speedily  bled  to  death. 

But  a  black  bear  is  not  usually  a  formidable 
opponent,  and  though  he  will  sometimes 
charge  home  he  is  much  more  apt  to  bluster 
and  bully  than  actually  to  come  to  close  quar- 
ters. I  myself  have  but  once  seen  a  man  who 
had  been  hurt  by  one  of  these  bears.  This  was 
an  Indian.  He  had  come  on  the  beast  close 
up  in  a  thick  wood,  and  had  mortally  wounded 
it  with  his  gun  ;  it  had  then  closed  with  him, 
knocking  the  gun  out  of  his  hand,  so  that  he 
was  forced  to  use  his  knife.  It  charged  him 
on  all  fours,  but  in  the  grapple,  when  it  had 
failed  to  throw  him  down,  it  raised  itself  on 
its  hind  legs,  clasping  him  across  the  shoul- 
ders with  its  fore-paws.  Apparently  it  had 
no  intention  of  hugging,  but  merely  sought  to 
draw  him  within  reach  of  his  jaws.  He 
fought  desperately  against  this,  using  the  knife 
freely,  and  striving  to  keep  its  head  back ; 
and  the  flow  of  blood  weakened  the  animal, 
so  that  it  finally  fell  exhausted,  before  being 
able  dangerously  to  injure  him.  But  it  had 
bitten  his  left  arm  very  severely,  and  its  claws 
had  made  long  gashes  on  his  shoulders. 

Black  bears,  like  grislies,  vary  greatly  in 
their  modes  of  attack.  Sometimes  they  rush 


THE  BLACK  BEAR.  41 

fa  and  bite  ;  and  again  they  strike  with  their 
fore-paws.  Two  of  my  cowboys  were  origi- 
nally from  Maine,  where  I  knew  them  well. 
There  they  were  fond  of  trapping  bears,  and 
caught  a  good  many.  The  huge  steel  gins, 
attached  by  chains  to  heavy  clogs,  prevented 
the  trapped  beasts  from  going  far ;  and  when 
found  they  were  always  tied  tight  round  some 
tree  or  bush,  and  usually  nearly  exhausted. 
The  men  killed  them  either  with  a  little  32-cali- 
bre  pistol  or  a  hatchet.  But  once  did  they  meet 
with  any  difficulty.  On  this  occasion  one  of 
them  incautiously  approached  a  captured  bear 
to  knock  it  on  the  head  with  his  hatchet,  but 
the  animal  managed  to  partially  untwist  itself, 
and  with  its  free  fore-arm  made  a  rapid  sweep 
at  him;  he  jumped  back  just  in  time,  the 
bear's  claws  tearing  his  clothes — after  which 
he  shot  it.  Bears  are  shy  and  have  very  keen 
noses ;  they  are  therefore  hard  to  kill  by  fair 
hunting,  living,  as  they  generally  do,  in  dense 
forests  or  thick  brush.  They  are  easy  enough 
to  trap,  however.  Thus,  these  two  men, 
though  they  trapped  so  many,  never  but  once 
killed  them  in  any  other  way.  On  this  occa- 
sion one  of  them,  in  the  winter,  found  in  a 
great  hollow  log  a  den  where  a  she  and  two 
well-grown  cubs  had  taken  up  their  abode, 
and  shot  all  three  with  his  rifle  as  they  burst 
out. 

Where  they  are  much  hunted,  bear  become 
purely  nocturnal  ;  but  in  the  wilder  forests  I 
have  seen  them  abroad  at  all  hours,  though 
they  do  not  much  relish  the  intense  heat  of 


42  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

noon.  They  are  rather  comical  animals  to 
watch  feeding  and  going  about  the  ordinary 
business  of  their  lives.  Once  I  spent  half  an 
hour  lying  at  the  edge  of  a  wood  and  looking 
at  a  black  bear  some  three  hundred  yards  off 
across  an  open  glade.  It  was  in  good  stalk- 
ing country,  but  the  wind  was  unfavorable 
and  I  waited  for  it  to  shift — waited  too  long 
as  it  proved,  for  something  frightened  the 
beast  and  he  made  off  before  I  could  get  a 
shot  at  him.  When  I  first  saw  him  he  was 
shuffling  along  and  rooting  in  the  ground, 
so  that  he  looked  like  a  great  pig.  Then  he 
began  to  turn  over  the  stones  and  logs  to 
hunt  for  insects,  small  reptiles,  and  the  like. 
A  moderate-sized  stone  he  would  turn  over 
with  a  single  clap  of  his  paw,  and  then  plunge 
his  nose  down  into  the  hollow  to  gobble  up 
the  small  creatures  beneath  while  still  dazed 
by  the  light.  The  big  logs  and  rocks  he 
would  tug  and  worry  at  with  both  paws  ; 
once,  over-exerting  his  clumsy  strength,  he 
lost  his  grip  and  rolled  clean  on  his  back. 
Under  some  of  the  logs  he  evidently  fouud 
mice  and  chipmunks  ;  then,  as  soon  as  the 
log  was  overturned,  he  would  be  seen  jump- 
ing about  with  grotesque  agility,  and  making 
quick  dabs  here  and  there,  as  the  little,  scurry- 
ing rodent  turned  and  twisted,  until  at  last  he 
put  his  paw  on  it  and  scooped  it  up  into  his 
mouth.  Sometimes,  probably  when  he  smelt 
the  mice  underneath,  he  would  cautiously  turn 
the  log  over  with  one  paw,  holding  the  other 
lifted  and  ready  to  strike.  Now  and  then  he 


THE  BLACK  BEAR.  43 

would  halt  and  sniff  the  air  in  every  direction, 
and  it  was  after  one  of  these  halts  that  he 
suddenly  shuffled  off  into  the  woods. 

Black  bear  generally  feed  on  berries,  nuts, 
insects,  carrion,  and  the  like  ;  but  at  times 
they  take  to  killing  very  large  animals.  In 
fact,  they  are  curiously  irregular  in  their  food. 
They  will  kill  deer  if  they  can  get  at  them ; 
but  generally  the  deer  are  too  quick.  Sheep 
and  hogs  are  their  favorite  prey,  especially 
the  latter,  for  bears  seem  to  have  a  special 
rebsh  for  pork.  Twice  I  have  known  a  black 
be^r  kill  cattle.  Once  the  victim  was  a  bull 
wMch  had  got  mired,  and  which  the  bear  delib- 
erately proceeded  to  eat  alive,  heedless  of  the 
bellows  of  the  unfortunate  beast.  On  the 
other  occasion,  a  cow  was  surprised  and  slain 
among  some  bushes  at  the  edge  of  a  remote  pas- 
ture. In  the  spring,  soon  after  the  long  winter 
sleep,  they  are  very  hungry,  and  are  especially 
apt  to  attack  large  beasts  at  this  time ;  although 
during  the  very  first  days  of  their  appearance, 
when  they  are  just  breaking  their  fast,  they 
eat  rather  sparingly,  and  by  preference  the 
tender  shoots  of  green  grass  and  other  herbs, 
or  frogs  and  crayfish  ;  it  is  not  for  a  week  or 
two  that  they  seem  to  be  overcome  by  lean, 
ravenous  hunger.  They  will  even  attack  and 
master  that  formidable  fighter  the  moose, 
springing  at  it  from  an  ambush  as  it  passes — 
for  a  bull  moose  would  surely  be  an  over- 
match for  one  of  them  if  fronted  fairly  in  the 
open.  An  old  hunter,  whom  I  could  trust, 
told  me  that  he  had  seen  in  the  snow  in  early 


44  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

spring  the  place  where  a  bear  had  sprung  at 
two  moose,  which  were  trotting  together  ; 
he  missed  his  spring,  and  the  moose  got  off, 
their  strides  after  they  settled  down  into  their 
pace  being  tremendous,  and  showing  how 
thoroughly  they  were  frightened.  Another 
time  he  saw  a  bear  chase  a  moose  into  a  lake, 
where  it  waded  out  a  little  distance,  and  then 
turned  to  bay,  bidding  defiance  to  his  pursuer, 
the  latter  not  daring  to  approach  in  the  water. 
I  have  been  told — but  cannot  vouch  for  it — 
that  instances  have  been  known  where  the 
bear,  maddened  by  hunger,  has  gone  in  on  a 
moose  thus  standing  at  bay,  only  to  be  beaten 
down  under  the  water  by  the  terrible  fore- 
hoofs  of  the  quarry,  and  to  yield  its  life  in 
the  contest.  A  lumberman  told  me  that  he 
once  saw  a  moose,  evidently  much  startled, 
trot  through  a  swamp,  and  immediately  after- 
wards a  bear  came  up  following  the  tracks. 
He  almost  ran  into  the  man,  and  was  evidently 
not  in  a  good  temper,  for  he  growled  and 
blustered,  and  two  or  three  times  made  feints 
of  charging,  before  he  finally  concluded  to  go 
off. 

Bears  will  occasionally  visit  hunters'  or 
lumbermen's  camps,  in  the  absence  of  the 
owners,  and  play  sad  havoc  with  all  that  there- 
in is,  devouring  everything  eatable,  especially 
if  sweet,  and  trampling  into  a  dirty  mess  what- 
ever they  do  not  eat.  The  black  bear  does 
not  average  more  than  a  third  the  size  of  the 
grisly  ;  but,  like  all  its  kind,  it  varies  greatly 
in  weight.  The  largest  I  myself  ever  saw 


THE  BLACK  BEAR.  45 

weighed  was  in  Maine,  and  tipped  the  scale  at 
346  pounds  ;  but  I  have  a  perfectly  authentic 
record  of  one  in  Maine  that  weighed  397,  am,, 
my  friend,  Dr.  Hart  Merriam,  tells  me  that  he 
has  seen  several  in  the  Adirondacks  that  when 
killed  weighed  about  350. 

I  have  myself  shot  but  one  or  two  black 
bears,  and  these  were  obtained  under  circum- 
stances of  no  special  interest,  as  I  merely 
stumbled  on  them  while  after  other  game,  and 
killed  them  before  they  had  a  chance  either 
to  run  or  show  fight 


46  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

OLD   EPHRAIM,   THE   GRISLY   BEAR. 

THE  king  of  the  game  beasts  of  temperate 
North  America,  because  the  most  dan- 
gerous to  the  hunter,  is  the  grisly  bear ;  known 
to  the  few  remaining  old-time  trappers  of  the 
Rockies  and  the  Great  Plains,  sometimes  as 
"  Old  Ephraim  "  and  sometimes  as  "  Mocca- 
sin Joe " — the  last  in  allusion  to  his  queer, 
half-human  footprints,  which  look  as  if  made 
by  some  mishapen  giant,  walking  in  mocca- 
sins. 

Bear  vary  greatly  in  size  and  color,  no  less 
than  in  temper  and  habits.  Old  hunters  speak 
much  of  them  in  their  endless  talks  over  the 
camp  fires  and  in  the  snow-bound  winter  huts. 
They  insist  on  many  species ;  not  merely 
the  black  and  the  grisly,  but  the  brown,  the 
cinnamon,  the  gray,  the  silver-tip,  and  others 
with  names  known  only  in  certain  localities, 
such  as  the  range  bear,  the  roach-back,  and 
the  smut-face.  But,  in  spite  of  popular  opin- 
ion to  the  contrary,  most  old  hunters  are  very 
untrustworthy  in  dealing  with  points  of  natural 
history.  They  usually  know  only  so  much 
about  any  given  game  animal  as  will  enable 
them  to  kill  it.  They  study  its  habits  solely 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISLY  BEAR.     47 

with  this  end  in  view ;  and  once  slain  they  only 
examine  it  to  see  about  its  condition  and  fur. 
With  rare  exceptions  they  are  quite  incapable 
of  passing  judgment  upon  questions  of  specific 
identity  or  difference.  When  questioned,  they 
not  only  advance  perfectly  impossible  theories 
and  facts  in  support  of  their  views,  but  they 
rarely  even  agree  as  to  the  views  themselves. 
One  hunter  will  assert  that  the  true  grisly  is 
only  found  in  California,  heedless  of  the  fact 
that  the  name  was  first  used  by  Lewis  and 
Clarke  as  one  of  the  titles  they  applied  to  the 
large  bears  of  the  plains  country  round  the 
Upper  Missouri,  a  quarter  of  a  century  before 
the  California  grisly  was  known  to  fame.  An- 
other hunter  will  call  any  big  brindled  bear  a 
grisly  no  matter  where  it  is  found ;  and  he  and 
his  companions  will  dispute  by  the  hour  as  to 
whether  a  bear  of  large,  but  not  extreme,  size 
is  a  grisly  or  a  silver-tip.  In  Oregon  the  cin- 
namon bear  is  a  phase  of  the  small  black  bear ; 
in  Montana  it  is  the  plains  variety  of  the  large 
mountain  silver-tip.  I  have  myself  seen  the 
skins  of  two  bears  killed  on  the  upper  waters 
of  Tongue  River  ;  one  was  that  of  a  male,  one 
of  a  female,  and  they  had  evidently  just  mated ; 
yet  one  was  distinctly  a  "  silver-tip  "  and  the 
other  a  "  cinnamon. "  The  skin  of  one  very  big 
bear  which  I  killed  in  the  Bighorn  has  proved 
a  standing  puzzle  to  almost  all  the  old  hunters 
to  whom  I  have  showed  it ;  rarely  do  any  two 
of  them  agree  as  to  whether  it  is  a  grisly,  a 
silver-tip,  a  cinnamon,  or  a  "smut-face." 
Any  bear  with  unusually  long  hair  on  the  spine 


48  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

and  shoulders,  especially  if  killed  in  the  spring, 
when  the  fur  is  shaggy,  is  forthwith  dubbed  a 
"  roach-back. "  The  average  sporting  writer 
moreover  joins  with  the  more  imaginative 
members  of  the  "  old  hunter  "  variety  in  as- 
cribing wildly  various  traits  to  these  different 
bears.  One  comments  on  the  superior  prowess 
of  the  roach-back ;  the  explanation  being  that 
a  bear  in  early  spring  is  apt  to  be  ravenous 
from  hunger.  The  next  insists  that  the  Cali- 
fornia grisly  is  the  only  really  dangerous  bear; 
while  another  stoutly  maintains  that  it  does 
not  compare  in  ferocity  with  what  he  calls  the 
"  smaller  "  silver-tip  or  cinnamon.  And  so 
on,  and  so  on,  without  end.  All  of  which  is 
mere  nonsense. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  no  easy  task  to  determine 
how  many  species  or  varieties  of  bear  actually 
do  exist  in  the  United  States,  and  I  cannot 
even  say  without  doubt  that  a  very  large  set 
of  skins  and  skulls  would  not  show  a  nearly 
complete  intergradation  between  the  most 
widely  separated  individuals.  However,  there 
are  certainly  two  very  distinct  types,  which 
differ  almost  as  widely  from  each  other  as  a 
wapiti  does  from  a  mule  deer,  and  which  exist 
in  the  same  localities  in  most  heavily  timbered 
portions  of  the  Rockies.  One  is  the  small 
black  bear,  a  bear  which  will  average  about 
two  hundred  pounds  weight,  with  fine,  glossy, 
black  fur,  and  the  fore-claws  but  little  longer 
than  the  hinder  ones ;  in  fact  the  hairs  of  the 
fore-paw  often  reach  to  their  tips.  This  bear 
is  a  tree  climber.  It  is  the  only  kind  found 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    49 

east  of  the  great  plains,  and  it  is  also  plentiful 
in  the  forest-clad  portions  of  the  Rockies, 
being  common  in  most  heavily  timbered  tracts 
throughout  the  United  States.  The  other  is 
the  grisly,  which  weighs  three  or  four  times  as 
much  as  the  black,  and  has  a  pelt  of  coarse 
hair,  which  is  in  color  gray,  grizzled,  or  brown 
of  various  shades.  It  is  not  a  tree  climber, 
and  the  fore-claws  are  very  long,  much  longer 
than  the  hinder  ones.  It  is  found  from  the 
great  plains  west  of  the  Mississippi  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  This  bear  inhabits  indifferent- 
ly lowland  and  mountain ;  the  deep  woods,  and 
the  barren  plains  where  the  only  cover  is  the 
stunted  growth  fringing  the  streams.  These 
two  types  are  very  distinct  in  every  way,  and 
their  differences  are  not  at  all  dependent  upon 
mere  geographical  considerations ;  for  they  are 
often  found  in  the  same  district.  Thus  I 
found  them  both  in  the  Bighorn  Mountains, 
each  type  being  in  extreme  form,  while  the 
specimens  I  shot  showed  no  trace  of  intergra- 
dation.  The  huge  grizzled,  long-clawed  beast, 
and  ts  little  glossy-coated,  short-clawed,  tree- 
climbing  brother  roamed  over  exactly  the  same 
country  in  those  mountains  ;  but  they  were  as 
distinct  in  habits,  and  mixed  as  little  together 
as  moose  and  caribou. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  a  sufficient  number 
of  bears,  from  widely  separated  regions  are 
examined,  the  various  distinguishing  marks  are 
found  to  be  inconstant  and  to  show  a  tendency 
— exactly  how  strong  I  cannot  say — to  fade 
mto  one  another.  The  differentiation  of  the 
4 


5C  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

two  species  seems  to  be  as  yet  scarcely  com- 
pleted ;  there  are  more  or  less  imperfect  con- 
necting links,  and  as  regards  the  grisly  it  al- 
most seems  as  if  the  specific  characters  were 
still  unstable.  In  the  far  northwest,  in  the 
basin  of  the  Columbia,  the  "  black  "  bear  is  as 
often  brown  as  any  other  color;  and  I  have 
seen  the  skins  of  two  cubs,  one  black  and  one 
brown,  which  were  shot  when  following  the 
same  dam.  When  these  brown  bears  have 
coarser  hair  than  usual  their  skins  are  with 
difficulty  to  be  distinguished  from  those  of 
certain  varieties  of  the  grisly.  Moreover,  all 
bears  vary  greatly  in  size ;  and  I  have  seen 
the  bodies  of  very  large  black  or  brown  bears 
with  short  fore-claws  which  were  fully  as  heavy 
as,  or  perhaps  heavier  than,  some  small  but 
full-grown  grislies  with  long  fore-claws.  These 
very  large  bears  with  short  claws  are  very  re- 
luctant to  climb  a  tree;  and  are  almost  as 
clumsy  about  it  as  is  a  young  grisly.  Among 
the  grislies  the  fur  varies  much  in  color  and 
texture  even  among  bears  of  the  same  locality ; 
it  is  of  course  richest  in  the  deep  forest,  while 
the  bears  of  the  dry  plains  and  mountains  are 
of  a  lighter,  more  washed-out  hue. 

A  full  grown  grisly  will  usually  weigh  from 
five  to  seven  hundred  pounds ;  but  exception- 
al individuals  undoubtedly '  reach  more  than 
twelve  hundredweight.  The  California  bears 
are  said  to  be  much  the  largest.  This  I  think 
is  so,  but  I  cannot  say  it  with  certainty — at 
any  rate  I  have  examined  several  skins  of 
full-grown  California!!  bears  which  were  no 


OLD  EPHRAIM,   THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    51 

larger  than  those  of  many  I  have  seen  from 
the  northern  Rockies.  The  Alaskan  bears, 
particularly  those  of  the  peninsula,  are  even 
bigger  beasts ;  the  skin  of  one  which  I  saw  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Webster,  the  taxider- 
mist, was  a  good  deal  larger  than  the  average 
polar  bear  skin ;  and  the  animal  when  alive, 
if  in  good  condition,  could  hardly  have  weighed 
less  than  1,400  pounds.*  Bears  vary  wonder- 
fully in  weight,  even  to  the  extent  of  becom- 
ing half  as  heavy  again,  according  as  they  are 
fat  or  lean ;  in  this  respect  they  are  more  like 
hogs  than  like  any  other  animals. 

The  grisly  is  now  chiefly  a  beast  of  the  high 
hills  and  heavy  timber ;  but  this  is  merely  be- 
cause he  has  learned  that  he  must  rely  on 
cover  to  guard  him  from  man,  and  has  for- 
saken the  open  ground  accordingly.  In  old 
days,  and  in  one  or  two  very  out-of-the-way 
places  almost  to  the  present  time,  he  wandered 
at  will  over  the  plains.  It  is  only  the  weari- 
ness born  of  fear  which  nowadays  causes  him 
to  cling  to  the  thick  brush  of  the  large  river- 
bottoms  throughout  the  plains  country.  When 
there  were  no  rifle-bearing  hunters  in  the  land, 
to  harass  him  and  make  him  afraid,  he  roved 
hither  and  thither  at  will,  in  burly  self-con- 
fidence. Then  he  cared  little  for  cover,  un- 
less as  a  weather-break,  or  because  it  hap- 
pened to  contain  food  he  liked.  If  the  humor 
seized  him  he  would  roam  for  days  over  the 
rolling  or  broken  prairie,  searching  for  roots, 

*  Both  this  huge  Alaskan  bear  and  the  entirely  distinct  bear  of 
the  barren  grounds  differ  widely  from  the  true  grisly,  at  least  in 
their  extreme  forms. 


52  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

digging  up  gophers,  or  perhaps  following  the 
great  buffalo  herds  either  to  prey  on  some  un- 
wary straggler  which  he  was  able  to  catch  at 
a  disadvantage  in! a  washout,  or  else  to  feast 
on  the  carcasses  of  those  which  died  by  acci- 
dent. Old  hunters,  survivors  of  the  long- 
vanished  ages  when  the  vast  herds  thronged 
the  high  plains  and  were  followed  by  the  wild 
red  tribes,  and  by  bands  of  whites  who  were 
scarcely  less  savage,  have  told  me  that  they 
often  met  bears  under  such  circumstances  ; 
and  these  bears  were  accustomed  to  sleep  in 
a  patch  of  rank  sage  bush,  in  the  niche  of  a 
washout,  or  under  the  lee  of  a  boulder,  seek- 
ing their  food  abroad  even  in  full  daylight. 
The  bears  of  the  Upper  Missouri  basin — 
which  were  so  light  in  color  that  the  early  ex- 
plorers often  alluded  to  them  as  gray  or  even 
as  "  white  " — were  particularly  given  to  this 
life  in  the  open.  To  this  day  that  close  kins- 
man of  the  grisly  known  as  the  bear  of  the 
barren  grounds  continues  to  lead  this  same 
kind  of  life,  in  the  far  north.  My  friend  Mr. 
Rockhill,  of  Maryland,  who  was  the  first  white 
man  to  explore  eastern  Tibet,  describes  the 
large,  grisly-like  bear  of  those  desolate  up- 
lands as  having  similar  habits. 

However,  the  grisly  is  a  shrewd  beast  and 
shows  the  usual  bear-like  capacity  for  adapting 
himself  to  changed  conditions.  He  has  in 
most  places  become  a  cover-haunting  animal, 
sly  in  his  ways,  wary  to  a  degree,  and  cling- 
ing to  the  shelter  of  the  deepest  forests  in  the 
mountains  and  of  the  most  tangled  thickets 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    53 

in  the  plains.  Hence  he  has  held  his  own 
far  better  than  such  game  as  the  bison  and 
elk.  He  is  much  less  common  than  formerly, 
but  he  is  still  to  be  found  throughout  most 
of  his  former  range ;  save  of  course  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  large 
towns. 

In  most  places  the  grisly  hibernates,  or  as 
old  hunters  say  "  holes  up,"  during  the  cold 
season,  precisely  as  does  the  black  bear ;  but 
as  with  the  latter  species,  those  animals  which 
live  farthest  south  spend  the  whole  year  abroad 
in  mild  seasons.  The  grisly  rarely  chooses 
that  favorite  den  of  his  little  black  brother,  a 
hollow  tree  or  log,  for  his  winter  sleep,  seek- 
ing or  making  some  cavernous  hole  in  the 
ground  instead.  The  hole  is  sometimes  in  a 
slight  hillock  in  a  river  bottom,  but  more  often 
on  a  hill-side,  and  may  be  either  shallow  or 
deep.  In  the  mountains  it  is  generally  a 
natural  cave  in  the  rock,  but  among  the  foot- 
hills and  on  the  plains  the  bear  usually  has  to 
take  some  hollow  or  opening,  and  then  fashion 
it  into  a  burrow  to  his  liking  with  his  big  dig- 
ging claws. 

Before  the  cold  weather  sets  in  the  bear 
begins  to  grow  restless,  and  to  roam  about 
seeking  for  a  good  place  in  which  to  hole  up. 
One  will  often  try  and  abandon  several  caves 
or  partially  dug-out  burrows  in  succession 
before  finding  a  place  to  its  taste.  It  always 
endeavors  to  choose  a  spot  where  there  is 
little  chance  of  discovery  or  molestation,  taking 
great  care  to  avoid  leaving  too  evident  trace 


54  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

of  its  work.  Hence  it  is  not  often  that  the 
dens  are  found. 

Once  in  its  den  the  bear  passes  the  cold 
months  in  lethargic  sleep ;  yet,  in  all  but  the 
coldest  weather,  and  sometimes  even  then,  its 
slumber  is  but  light,  and  if  disturbed  it  will 
promptly  leave  its  den,  prepared  for  fight  or 
flight  as  the  occasion  may  require.  Many 
times  when  a  hunter  has  stumbled  on  the 
winter  resting-place  of  a  bear  and  has  left  it, 
as  he  thought,  without  his  presence  being  dis- 
covered, he  has  returned  only  to  find  that  the 
crafty  old  fellow  was  aware  of  the  danger  all 
the  time,  and  sneaked  off  as  soon  as  the  coast 
was  clear.  But  in  very  cold  weather  hibernat- 
ing bears  can  hardly  be  wakened  from  their 
torpid  lethargy. 

The  length  of  time  a  bear  stays  in  its  den 
depends  of  course  upon  the  severity  of  the 
season  and  the  latitude  and  altitude  of  the 
country.  In  the  northernmost  and  coldest 
regions  all  the  bears  hole  up,  and  spend  half 
the  year  in  a  state  of  lethargy ;  whereas  in  the 
south  only  the  she's  with  young  and  the  fat 
he-bears  retire  for  the  sleep,  and  these  but  for 
a  few  weeks,  and  only  if  the  season  is  severe. 

When  the  bear  first  leaves  its  den  the  fur  is 
in  very  fine  order,  but  it  speedily  becomes 
thin  and  poor,  and  does  not  recover  its  con- 
dition until  the  fall.  Sometimes  the  b^ar  does 
not  betray  any  great  hunger  for  a  few  days 
after  its  appearance ;  but  in  a  short  while  it 
becomes  ravenous.  During  the  early  spring, 
when  the  woods  are  still  entirely  barren  and 


OLD  EPHRAIM,   THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    55 

lifeless,  while  the  snow  yet  lies  in  deep  drifts, 
the  lean,  hungry  brute,  both  maddened  and 
weakened  by  long  fasting,  is  more  of  a  flesh 
eater  than  at  any  other  time.  It  is  at  this 
period  that  it  is  most  apt  to  turn  true  beast 
of  prey,  and  show  its  prowess  either  at  the 
expense  of  the  wild  game,  or  of  the  flocks  of 
the  settler  and  the  herds  of  the  ranchman. 
Bears  are  very  capricious  in  this  respect,  how- 
ever. Some  are  confirmed  game,  and  cattle- 
killers  ;  others  are  not ;  while  yet  others  either 
are  or  are  not  accordingly  as  the  freak  seizes 
them,  and  their  ravages  vary  almost  unac- 
countably, both  with  the  season  and  the 
locality. 

Throughout  1889,  for  instance,  no  cattle,  so 
far  as  I  heard,  were  killed  by  bears  anywhere 
near  my  range  on  the  Little  Missouri  in  west- 
ern Dakota  ;  yet  I  happened  to  know  that 
during  that  same  season  the  ravages  of  the 
bears  among  the  herds  of  the  cowmen  in  the 
Big  Hole  Basin,  in  western  Montana,  were 
very  destructive. 

In  the  spring  and  early  summer  of  1888, 
the  bea*rs  killed  no  cattle  near  my  ranch  ;  but 
in  the  late  summer  and  early  fall  of  that  year 
a  big  bear,  which  we  well  knew  by  its  tracks, 
suddenly  took  to  cattle-killing.  This  was  a 
brute  which  had  its  headquarters  on  some 
very  large  brush  bottoms  a  dozen  miles  below 
my  ranch  house,  and  which  ranged  to  and  fro 
across  the  broken  country  flanking  the  river 
on  each  side.  It  began  just  before  berry 
time,  but  continued  its  career  of  destruction 


56  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

long  after  the  wild  plums  and  even  buffalo 
berries  had  ripened.  I  think  that  what  started 
it  was  a  feast  on  a  cow  which  had  mired  and 
died  in  the  bed  of  the  creek  ;  at  least  it  was 
not  until  after  we  found  that  it  had  been  feed- 
ing at  the  carcass  and  had  eaten  every  scrap, 
that  we  discovered  traces  of  its  ravages  among 
the  livestock.  It  seemed  to  attack  the  animals 
wholly  regardless  of  their  size  and  strength  ; 
its  victims  including  a  large  bull  and  a  beef 
steer,  as  well  as  cows,  yearlings,  and  gaunt, 
weak  trail  "  doughgies,"  which  had  been 
brought  in  very  late  by  a  Texas  cow-outfit — 
for  that  year  several  herds  were  driven  up 
from  the  overstocked,  eaten-out,  and  drought- 
stricken  ranges  of  the  far  south.  Judging 
from  the  signs,  the  crafty  old  grisly,  as  cun- 
ning as  he  was  ferocious,  usually  lay  in  wait 
for  the  cattle  when  they  came  down  to  water, 
choosing  some  thicket  of  dense  underbrush 
and  twisted  cottonwoods  through  which  they 
had  to  pass  before  reaching  the  sand  banks  on 
the  river's  brink.  Sometimes  he  pounced  on 
them  as  they  fed  through  the  thick,  low  cover 
of  the  bottoms,  where  an  assailant  could  either 
lie  in  ambush  by  one  of  the  numerous  cattle 
trails,  or  else  creep  unobserved  towards  some 
browsing  beast.  When  within  a  few  feet  a 
quick  rush  carried  him  fairly  on  the  terrified 
quarry  ;  and  though  but  a  clumsy  animal  com- 
pared to  the  great  cats,  the  grisly  is  far  quicker 
than  one  would  imagine  from  viewing  his 
ordinary  lumbering  gait.  In  one  or  two  in- 
stances the  bear  had  apparently  grappled  with 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    57 

his  victim  by  seizing  it  near  the  loins  and 
striking  a  disabling  blow  over  the  small  of  the 
back ;  in  at  least  one  instance  he  had  jumped 
on  the  animal's  head,  grasping  it  with  his  fore- 
paws,  while  with  his  fangs  he  tore  open  the 
throat  or  craunched  the  neck  bone.  Some  of 
his  victims  were  slain  far  from  the  river,  in 
winding,  brushy  coulies  of  the  Bad  Lands, 
where  the  broken  nature  of  the  ground  ren- 
dered stalking  easy.  Several  of  the  ranch- 
men, angered  at  their  losses,  hunted  their  foe 
eagerly,  but  always  with  ill  success ;  until  one 
of  them  put  poison  in  a  carcass,  and  thus  at 
last,  in  ignoble  fashion,  slew  the  cattle-killer. 

Mr.  Clarence  King  informs  me  that  he  was 
once  eye-witness  to  a  bear's  killing  a  steer,  in 
California.  The  steer  was  in  a  small  pasture, 
and  the  bear  climbed  over,  partly  breaking 
down,  the  rails  which  barred  the  gateway. 
The  steer  started  to  run,  but  the  grisly  over- 
took it  in  four  or  five  bounds,  and  struck  it  a 
tremendous  blow  on  the  flank  with  one  paw, 
knocking  several  ribs  clear  away  from  the 
spine,  and  killing  the  animal  outright  by  the 
shock. 

Horses  no  less  than  horned  cattle  at  times 
fall  victims  to  this  great  bear,  which  usually 
spring  on  them  from  the  edge  of  a  clearing  as 
they  graze  in  some  mountain  pasture,  or 
among  the  foot-hills ;  and  there  is  no  other 
animal  of  which  horses  seem  so  much  afraid. 
Generally  the  bear,  whether  successful  or  un- 
successful in  its  raids  on  cattle  and  horses, 
comes  off  unscathed  from  the  struggle ;  but 


58  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

this  is  not  always  the  case,  and  it  has  much 
respect  for  the  hoofs  or  horns  of  its  should-be 
prey.  Some  horses  do  not  seem  to  know  how 
to  fight  at  all ;  but  others  are  both  quick  and 
vicious,  and  prove  themselves  very  formidable 
foes,  lashing  out  behind,  and  striking  with 
their  fore-hoofs.  I  have  elsewhere  given  an 
instance  of  a  stallion  which  beat  off  a  bear, 
breaking  its  jaw. 

Quite  near  my  ranch,  once,  a  cowboy  in 
my  employ  found  unmistakable  evidence  of  the 
discomfiture  of  a  bear  by  a  long-horned  range 
cow.  It  was  in  the  early  spring,  and  the  cow 
with  her  new-born  calf  was  in  a  brush-bor- 
dered valley.  The  footprints  in  the  damp  soil 
were  very  plain,  and  showed  all  that  had  hap- 
pened. The  bear  had  evidently  come  out  of 
the  bushes  with  a  rush,  probably  bent  merely 
on  seizing  the  calf ;  and  had  slowed  up  when 
the  cow  instead  of  flying  faced  him.  He  had 
then  begun  to  walk  round  his  expected  dinner 
in  a  circle,  the  cow  fronting  him  and  moving 
nervously  back  and  forth,  so  that  her  sharp 
hoofs  cut  and  trampled  the  ground.  Finally 
she  had  charged  savagely ;  whereupon  the 
bear  had  bolted ;  and,  whether  frightened  at 
the  charge,  or  at  the  approach  of  some  one, 
he  had  not  returned. 

The  grisly  is  even  fonder  of  sheep  and  pigs 
than  is  its  smaller  black  brother.  Lurking 
round  the  settler's  house  until  after  nightfall, 
it  will  vault  into  the  fold  or  sty,  grasp  a  help- 
less, bleating  fleece-bearer,  or  a  shrieking, 
struggling  member  of  the  bristly  brotherhood, 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISL  Y  BEAR.    59 

and  bundle  it  out  over  the  fence  to  its  death. 
In  carrying  its  prey  a  bear  sometimes  holds 
the  body  in  its  teeth,  walking  along  on  all- 
fours  and  dragging  it  as  a  wolf  does.  Some- 
times, however,  it  seizes  an  animal  in  its  fore- 
arms or  in  one  of  them,  and  walks  awkwardly 
on  three  legs  or  two,  adopting  this  method  in 
lifting  and  pushing  the  body  over  rocks  and 
down  timber. 

When  a  grisly  can  get  at  domestic  animals 
it  rarely  seeks  to  molest  game,  the  former 
being  far  less  wary  and  more  helpless.  Its 
heaviness  and  clumsiness  do  not  fit  it  well  for 
a  life  of  rapine  against  shy  woodland  crea- 
tures. Its  vast  strength  and  determined  tem- 
per, however,  more  than  make  amends  for 
lack  of  agility  in  the  actual  struggle  with  the 
stricken  prey  ;  its  difficulty  lies  in  seizing,  not 
in  killing,  the  game.  Hence,  when  a  grisly 
does  take  to  game-killing,  it  is  likely  to  attack 
bison,  moose,  and  elk  ;  it  is  rarely  able  to 
catch  deer,  still  less  sheep  or  antelope.  In 
fact  these  smaller  game  animals  often  show 
but  little  dread  of  its  neighborhood,  and, 
though  careful  not  to  let  it  come  too  near,  go 
on  grazing  when  a  bear  is  in  full  sight. 
Whitetail  deer  are  frequently  found  at  home 
in  the  same  thicket  in  which  a  bear  has  its 
den,  while  they  immediately  desert  the  tem- 
porary abiding  place  of  a  wolf  or  cougar. 
Nevertheless,  they  sometimes  presume  too 
much  on  this  confidence.  A  couple  of  years 
before  the  occurrence  of  the  feats  of  cattle- 
killing  mentioned  above  as  happening  near  my 


60  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

ranch,  either  the  same  bear  that  figured  in 
them,  or  another  of  similar  tastes,  took  to 
game-hunting.  The  beast  lived  in  the  same 
succession  of  huge  thickets  which  cover  for 
two  or  three  miles  the  river  bottoms  and  the 
mouths  of  the  inflowing  creeks  ;  and  he  sud- 
denly made  a  raid  on  the  whitetail  deer  which 
were  plentiful  in  the  dense  cover.  The 
shaggy,  clumsy  monster  was  cunning  enough 
to  kill  several  of  these  knowing  creatures. 
The  exact  course  of  procedure  I  never  could 
find  out ;  but  apparently  the  bear  laid  in  wait 
beside  the  game  trails,  along  which  the  deer 
wandered. 

In  the  old  days  when  the  innumerable  bison 
grazed  free  on  the  prairie,  the  grisly  some- 
times harassed  their  bands  as  it  now  does  the 
herds  of  the  ranchman.  The  bison  was  the 
most  easily  approached  of  all  game,  and  the 
great  bear  could  often  get  near  some  outlying 
straggler,  in  its  quest  after  stray  cows,  year- 
lings, or  calves.  In  default  of  a  favorable 
chance  to  make  a  prey  of  one  of  these  weaker 
members  of  the  herds,  it  did  not  hesitate  to 
attack  the  mighty  bulls  themselves ;  and  per- 
haps the  grandest  sight  which  it  was  ever  the 
good  fortune  of  the  early  hunters  to  witness, 
was  one  of  these  rare  battles  between  a  hungry 
grisly  and  a  powerful  buffalo  bull.  Nowadays, 
however,  the  few  last  survivors  of  the  bison  are 
vanishing  even  from  the  inaccessible  mountain 
fastnesses  in  which  they  sought  a  final  refuge 
from  their  destroyers. 

At  present  the  wapiti  is  of  all  wild  game 


OLD  EPHRAIM*   THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    61 

that  which  is  most  likely  to  fall  a  victim  to  the 
grisly,  when  the  big  bear  is  in  the  mood  to 
turn  hunter.  Wapiti  are  found  in  the  same 
places  as  the  grisly,  and  in  some  spots  they 
are  yet  very  plentiful ;  they  are  less  shy  and 
active  than  deer,  while  not  powerful  enough 
to  beat  off  so  ponderous  a  foe ;  and  they  live 
in  cover  where  there  is  always  a  good  chance 
either  to  stalk  or  to  stumble  on  them.  At  al- 
most any  season  bear  will  come  and  feast  on  an 
elk  carcass  ;  and  if  the  food  supply  runs  short, 
in  early  spring,  or  in  a  fall  when  the  berry 
crop  fails,  they  sometimes  have  to  do  their 
own  killing.  Twice  I  have  come  across  the 
remains  of  elk,  which  had  seemingly  been 
slain  and  devoured  by  bears.  I  have  never 
heard  of  elk  making  a  fight  against  a  bear ; 
yet,  at  close  quarters  and  at  bay,  a  bull  elk 
in  the  rutting  season  is  an  ugly  foe. 

A  bull  moose  is  even  more  formidable,  being 
able  to  strike  the  most  lightning-like  blows  with 
his  terrible  forefeet,  his  true  weapons  of  defense. 
I  doubt  if  any  beast  of  prey  would  rush  in  on 
one  of  these  woodland  giants,  when  his  horns 
were  grown,  and  if  he  was  on  his  guard  and 
bent  on  fight.  Nevertheless,  the  moose  some- 
times fall  victims  to  the  uncouth  prowess  of 
the  grisly,  in  the  thick  wet  forests  of  the  high 
northern  Rockies,  where  both  beasts  dwell. 
An  old  hunter  who  a  dozen  years  ago  wintered 
at  Jackson  Lake*  in  northwestern  Wyoming, 
told  me  that  when  the  snows  got  deep  on  the 
mountains  the  moos^  came  down  and  took  up 
their  abode  near  the  lake,  on  its  western  side. 

4-3 


62  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Nothing  molested  them  during  the  winter, 
Early  in  the  spring  a  grisly  came  out  of  its  den, 
and  he  found  its  tracks  in  many  places,  as  it 
roamed  restlessly  about,  evidently  very  hungry. 
Finding  little  to  eat  in  the  bleak,  snow-drifted 
woods,  it  soon  began  to  depredate  on  the 
moose,  and  killed  two  or  three,  generally  by 
lying  in  wait  and  dashing  out  on  them  as  they 
passed  near  its  lurking-place.  Even  the  bulls 
were  at  that  season  weak,  and  of  course  horn- 
less, with  small  desire  to  fight ;  and  in  each 
case  the  rush  of  the  great  bear — doubtless 
made  with  the  ferocity  and  speed  which  so 
often  belie  the  seeming  awkwardness  of  the 
animal — bore  down  the  startled  victim,  taken 
utterly  unawares  before  it  had  a  chance  to 
defend  itself.  In  one  case  the  bear  had  missed 
its  spring ;  the  moose  going  off,  for  a  few  rods> 
with  huge  jumps,  and  then  settling  down  into 
its  characteristic  trot.  The  old  hunter  who 
followed  the  tracks  said  he  would  never  have 
deemed  it  possible  for  any  animal  to  make 
such  strides  while  in  a  trot. 

Nevertheless,  the  grisly  is  only  occasionally 
not  normally,  a  formidable  predatory  beast,  a 
killer  of  cattle  and  of  large  game.  Although 
capable  of  far  swifter  movement  than  is 
promised  by  his  frame  of  seemingly  clumsy 
strength,  and  in  spite  of  his  power  of  charging 
with  astonishing  suddenness  and  speed,  he  yet 
lacks  altogether  the  supple  agility  of  such 
finished  destroyers  as  the  cougar  and  the  wolf  ; 
and  for  the  absence  of  this  agility  no  amount 
of  mere  huge^muscle  can'atone.  He  is  more  apt 


OLD  EPPIRAIM,  THE  GRISL  Y  BEAR,    63 

to  feast  on  animals  which  have  met  their 
death  by  accident,  or  which  have  been  killed  by 
other  beasts  or  by  man,  than  to  do  his  own  kill- 
ing. He  is  a  very  foul  feeder,  with  a  strong 
relish  for  carrion,  and  possesses  a  grewsome 
and  cannibal  fondness  for  the  flesh  of  his 
own  kind ;  a  bear  carcass  will  toll  a  brother 
bear  to  the  ambushed  hunter  better  than  almost 
any  other  bait,  unless  it  is  the  carcass  of  a 
horse. 

Nor  do  these  big  bears  always  content  them- 
selves merely  with  the  carcasses  of  their 
brethren.  A  black  bear  would  have  a  poor 
chance  if  in  the  clutches  of  a  large,  hungry 
grisly ;  and  an  old  male  will  kill  and  eat  a 
cub,  especially  if  he  finds  it  at  a  disadvantage. 
A  rather  remarkable  instance  of  this  occurred 
in  the  Yellowstone  National  Park,  in  the  spring 
of  1 89 1 .  The  incident  is  related  in  the  follow- 
ing letter  written  to  Mr.  William  Hallett 
Phillips,  of  Washington,  by  another  friend, 
Mr.  Elwood  Hofer.  Hofer  is  an  old  moun- 
tain-man ;  I  have  hunted  with  him  myself,  and 
know  his  statements  to  be  trustworthy.  He 
was,  at  the  time,  at  work  in  the  Park  getting 
animals  for  the  National  Museum  at  Washing- 
ton, and  was  staying  at  Yancey's  "  hotel  " 
near  Tower  Falls.  His  letter  which  was  dated 
June  2ist,  1891,  runs  in  part  as  follows : 

"  I  had  a  splendid  Grizzly  or  Roachback 
cub  and  was  going  to  send  him  into  the 
Springs  next  morning  the  team  was  here,  I 
heard  a  racket  outside  went  out  and  found 
him  dead  an  old  bear  that  made  an  9  i-a 


64  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

inch  track  had  killed  and  partly  eaten  him. 
Last  night  another  one  came,  one  that  made 
an  8  1-2  inch  track,  and  broke  Yancy  up  in 
the  milk  business.  You  know  how  the  cabins 
stand  here.  There  is  a  hitching  post  between 
the  saloon  and  old  house,  the  little  bear  was 
killed  there.  In  a  creek  close  by  was  a  milk 
house,  last  night  another  bear  came  there  and 
smashed  the  whole  thing  up,  leaving  nothing 
but  a  few  flattened  buckets  and  pans  and 
boards.  I  was  sleeping  in  the  old  cabin,  I 
heard  the  tin  ware  rattle  but  thought  it  was 
all  right  supposed  it  was  cows  or  horses  about. 
I  don't  care  about  the  milk  but  the  damn  cuss 
dug  up  the  remains  of  the  cub  I  had  buried 
in  the  old  ditch,  he  visited  the  old  meat  house 
but  found  nothing.  Bear  are  very  thick  in 
this  part  of  the  Park,  and  are  getting  very 
fresh.  I  sent  in  the  game  to  Capt.  Ander- 
son, hear  its  doing  well." 

Grislies  are  fond  of  fish ;  and  on  the 
Pacific  slope,  where  the  salmon  run,  they,  like 
so  many  other  beasts,  travel  many  scores  of 
miles  and  crowd  down  to  the  rivers  to  gorge 
themselves  upon  the  fish  which  are  thrown  up 
on  the  banks.  Wading  into  the  water  a  bear 
will  knock  out  the  salmon  right  and  left  when 
they  are  running  thick. 

Flesh  and  fish  do  not  constitute  the  grisly's 
ordinary  diet.  At  most  times  the  big  bear  is 
a  grubber  in  the  ground,  an  eater  of  insects, 
roots,  nuts,  and  berries.  Its  dangerous  fore- 
claws  are  normally  used  to  overturn  stones 
and  knock  rotten  logs  to  pieces,  that  it  may 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    65 

lap  up  the  small  tribes  of  darkness  which 
swarm  under  the  one  and  in  the  other.  It  digs 
up  the  camas  roots,  wild  onions,  and  an  occa- 
sional luckless  woodchuckor  gopher.  If  food 
is  very  plenty  bears  are  lazy,  but  commonly 
they  are  obliged  to  be  very  industrious,  it  be- 
ing  no  light  task  to  gather  enough  ants, 
beetles,  crickets,  tumble-bugs,  roots,  and  nuts 
to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  so  huge  a  bulk. 
The  sign  of  a  bear's  work  is,  of  course,  evi- 
dent to  the  most  unpractised  eye ;  and  in  no 
way  can  one  get  a  better  idea  of  the  brute's 
power  than  by  watching  it  busily  working  for 
its  breakfast,  shattering  big  logs  and  upsetting 
boulders  by  sheer  strength.  There  is  always 
a  touch  of  the  comic,  as  well  as  a  touch  of  the 
strong  and  terrible,  in  a  bear's  look  and  ac- 
tions. It  will  tug  and  pull,  now  with  one  paw, 
now  with  two,  now  on  all  fours,  now  on  its 
hind  legs,  in  the  effort  to  turn  over  a  large  log 
or  stone  ;  and  when  it  succeeds  it  jumps  round 
to  thrust  its  muzzle  into  the  damp  hollow  and 
lap  up  the  affrighted  mice  or  beetles  while 
they  are  still  paralyzed  by  the  sudden  ex- 
posure. 

,  The  true  time  of  plenty  for  bears  is  the 
berry  season.  Then  they  feast  ravenously  on 
huckleberries,  blueberries,  kinnikinic  berries, 
buffalo  berries,  wild  plums,  elderberries,  and 
scores  of  other  fruits.  They  often  smash  all  the 
bushes  in  a  berry  patch,  gathering  the  fruit  with 
half-luxurious,  half-laborious  greed,  sitting  on 
their  haunches,  and  sweeping  the  berries  into 
their  mouths  with  dexterous  paws.  So  absorbed 
5 


66  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

do  they  become  in  their  feasts  on  the  luscious 
fruit  that  they  grow  reckless  of  their  safety, 
and  feed  in  broad  daylight,  almost  at  midday  ; 
while  in  some  of  the  thickets,  especially  those 
of  the  mountain  haws,  they  make  so  much 
noise  in  smashing  the  branches  that  it  is  a 
comparatively  easy  matter  to  approach  them 
unheard.  That  still-hunter  is  in  luck  who  in 
the  fall  finds  an  accessible  berry-covered  hill- 
side which  is  haunted  by  bears  ;  but,  as  a  rule, 
the  berry  bushes  do  not  grow  close  enough  to- 
gether to  give  the  hunter  much  chance. 

Like  most  other  wild  animals,  bears  which 
have  known  the  neighborhood  of  man  are 
beasts  of  the  darkness,  or  at  least  of  the  dusk 
and  the  gloaming.  But  they  are  by  no  means 
such  true  night-lovers  as  the  big  cats  and  the 
wolves.  In  regions  where  they  know  little  of 
hunters  they  roam  about  freely  in  the  day- 
light, and  in  cool  weather  are  even  apt  to  take 
their  noontide  slumbers  basking  in  the  sun. 
Where  they  are  much  hunted  they  finally  al- 
most reverse  their  natural  habits  and  sleep 
throughout  the  hours  of  light,  only  venturing 
abroad  after  nightfall  and  before  sunrise ;  but 
even  yet  this  is  not  the  habit  of  those  bears 
which  exist  in  the  wilder  localities  where  they 
are  still  plentiful.  In  these  places  they  sleep, 
or  at  least  rest,  during  the  hours  of  greatest  heat, 
and  again  in  the  middle  part  of  the  night,  un- 
less there  is  a  full  moon.  They  start  on  their 
rambles  for  food  about  mid-afternoon,  and  end 
their  morning  roaming  soon  after  the  sun  is 
above  the  horizon.  If  the  moon  is  full,  how- 


OLD  EPHRAIM,    THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    67 

ever,  they  may  feed  all  night  long,  and  then 
wander  but  little  in  the  daytime. 

Aside  from  man,  the  full-grown  grisly  has 
hardly  any  foe  to  fear.  Nevertheless,  in  the 
early  spring,  when  weakened  by  the  hunger 
that  succeeds  the  winter  sleep,  it  behooves 
even  the  grisly,  if  he  dwells  in  the  mountain 
fastnesses  of  the  far  northwest,  to  beware  of  a 
famished  troop  of  great  timber  wolves.  These 
northern  Rocky  Mountain  wolves  are  most 
formidable  beasts,  and  when  many  of  them 
band  together  in  time  of  famine  they  do  not 
hesitate  to  pounce  on  the  black  bear  and 
cougar ;  and  even  a  full-grown  grisly  is  not 
safe  from  their  attacks,  unless  he  can  back  up 
against  some  rock  which  will  prevent  them 
from  assailing  him  from  behind.  A  small 
ranchman  whom  I  knew  well,  who  lived  near 
Flathead  Lake,  once  in  April  found  where  a 
troop  of  these  wolves  had  killed  a  good-sized 
yearling  grisly.  Either  cougar  or  wolf  will 
make  a  prey  of  a  grisly  which  is  but  a  few 
months  old ;  while  any  fox,  lynx,  wolverine, 
or  fisher  will  seize  the  very  young  cubs.  The 
old  story  about  wolves  fearing  to  feast  on  game 
killed  by  a  grisly  is  all  nonsense.  Wolves 
are  canny  beasts,  and  they  will  not  approach 
a  carcass  if  they  think  a  bear  is  hidden  near  by 
and  likely  to  rush  out  at  them  ;  but  under  or- 
dinary circumstances  they  will  feast  not  only 
on  the  carcasses  of  the  grisly's  victims,  but  on 
the  carcass  of  the  grisly  himself  after  he  has 
been  slain  and  left  by  the  hunter.  Of  course 
wolves  would  only  attack  a  grisly  if  in  the 


68  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

most  desperate  straits  for  food,  as  even  a  vio 
tory  over  such  an  antagonist  must  be  pur- 
chased with  heavy  loss  of  life  ;  and  a  hungry 
grisly  would  devour  either  a  wolf  or  a  cougar, 
or  any  one  of  the  smaller  carnivora  off-hand 
if  it  happened  to  corner  it  where  it  could  not 
get  away. 

The  grisly  occasionally  makes  its  den  in  a 
cave  and  spends  therein  the  midday  hours. 
But  this  is  rare.  Usually  it  lies  in  the  dense 
shelter  of  the  most  tangled  piece  of  woods  in 
the  neighborhood,  choosing  by  preference  some 
bit  where  the  young  growth  is  thick  and  the 
ground  strewn  with  boulders  and  fallen  logs. 
Often,  especially  if  in  a  restless  mood  and 
roaming  much  over  the  country,  it  merely 
makes  a  temporary  bed,  in  which  it  lies  but 
once  or  twice ;  and  again  it  may  make  a  more 
permanent  lair  or  series  of  lairs,  spending 
many  consecutive  nights  in  each.  Usually 
the  lair  or  bed  is  made  some  distance  from  the 
feeding  ground ;  but  bold  bears,  in  very  wild 
localities,  may  lie  close  by  a  carcass,  or  in  the 
middle  of  a  berry  ground.  The  deer-killing 
bear  above  mentioned  had  evidently  dragged 
two  or  three  of  his  victims  to  his  den,  which 
was  under  an  impenetrable  mat  of  bull-berries 
and  dwarf  box-alders,  hemmed  in  by  a  cut 
bank  on  one  side  and  a  wall  of  gnarled  cot- 
tonwoods  on  the  other.  Round  this  den,  and 
rendering  it  noisome,were  scattered  the  bones 
of  several  deer  and  a  young  steer  or  heifer. 
When  we  found  it  we  thought  we  could  easily 
kill  the  bear,  but  the  fierce,  cunning  beast  must 


OLD  EPHRAIM,   THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    69 

have  seen  or  smelt  us,  for  though  we  laid  in  wait 
for  it  long  and  patiently,  it  did  not  come  back 
to  its  place;  nor,  on  our  subsequent  visits, 
did  we  ever  find  traces  of  its  having  done  so. 

Bear  are  fond  of  wallowing  in  the  water, 
whether  in  the  sand,  on  the  edge  of  a  rapid 
plains  river,  on  the  muddy  margin  of  a  pond, 
or  in  the  oozy  moss  of  a  clear,  cold  mountain 
spring.  One  hot  August  afternoon,  as  I  was 
clambering  down  a  steep  mountain-side  near 
Pend'Oreille  lake,  I  heard  a  crash  some  dis- 
tance below,  which  showed  that  a  large  beast 
was  afoot.  On  making  my  way  towards  the 
spot,  I  found  I  had  disturbed  a  big  bear  as  it 
was  lolling  at  ease  in  its  bath ;  the  discolored 
water  showed  where  it  had  scrambled  hastily 
out  and  galloped  off  as  I  approached.  The 
spring  welled  out  at  the  base  of  a  high  granite 
rock,  forming  a  small  pool  of  shimmering 
broken  crystal.  The  soaked  moss  lay  in  a 
deep  wet  cushion  round  about,  and  jutted 
ovel*  the  edges  of  the  pool  like  a  floating 
shelf.  Graceful,  water-loving  ferns  swayed  to 
and  fro.  Above,  the  great  conifers  spread 
their  murmuring  branches,  dimming  the  light, 
and  keeping  out  the  heat ;  their  brown  boles 
sprang  from  the  ground  like  buttressed  col- 
umns. On  the  barren  mountain-side  beyond 
the  heat  was  oppressive.  It  was  small  wonder 
that  Bruin  should  have  .sought  the  spot  to  cool 
his  gross  carcass  in  the  fresh  spring  water. 

The  bear  is  a  solitary  beast,  and  although 
many  may  assemble  together,  in  what  looks 
like  a  drove,  on  some  favorite  feeding-ground 
4—3  B 


yo  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

— usually  where  the  berries  are  thick,  or  by 
the  banks  of  a  salmon-thronged  river — the 
association  is  never  more  than  momentary, 
each  going  its  own  way  as  soon  as  its  hunger 
is  satisfied.  The  males  always  live  alone  by 
choice,  save  in  the  rutting  season,  when  they 
seek  the  females.  Then  two  or  three  may 
come  together  in  the  course  of  their  pursuit 
and  rough  courtship  of  the  female  ;  and  if  the 
rivals  are  well  matched,  savage  battles  follow, 
so  that  many  of  the  old  males  have  their 
heads  seamed  with  scars  made  by  their  fellows' 
teeth.  At  such  times  they  are  evil  tempered 
and  prone  to  attack  man  or  beast  on  slight 
provocation. 

The  she  brings  forth  her  cubs,  one,  two,  or 
three  in  number,  in  her  winter  den.  They  are 
very  small  and  helpless  things,  and  it  is  some 
time  after  she  leaves  her  winter  home  before 
they  can  follow  her  for  any  distance.  They 
stay  with  her  throughout  the  summer  and  the 
fall,  leaving  her  when  the  cold  weather  sets  in. 
By  this  time  they  are  well  grown  ;  and  hence, 
especially  if  an  old  male  has  joined  the  she, 
the  family  may  number  three  or  four  indi- 
viduals, so  as  to  make  what  seems  like  quite 
a  .ittle  troop  of  bears.  A  small  ranchman 
who  lived  a  dozen  miles  from  me  on  the  Little 
Missouri  once  found  a  she-bear  and  three 
half-grown  cubs  feeding  at  a  berry-patch  in  a 
ravine.  He  shot  the  old  she  in  the  small  of 
the  back,  whereat  she  made  a  loud  roaring 
and  squealing.  One  of  the  cubs  rushed  to- 
wards her ;  but  its  sympathy  proved  misplaced, 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    71 

for  she  knocked  it  over  with  a  hearty  cuff, 
either  out  of  mere  temper,  or  because  she 
thought  her  pain  must  be  due  to  an  unpro- 
voked assault  from  one  of  her  offspring. 
The  hunter  then  killed  one  of  the  cubs,  and 
the  other  two  escaped.  When  bears  are  to- 
gether and  one  is  wounded  by  a  bullet,  but 
does  not  see  the  real  assailant,  it  often  .alls 
tooth  and  nail  upon  its  comrade,  apparently 
attributing  its  injury  to  the  latter. 

Bears  are  hunted  in  many  ways.  Some  are 
killed  by  poison  ;  but  this  plan  is  only  prac- 
tised by  the  owners  of  cattle  or  sheep  who  have 
suffered  from  their  ravages.  Moreover,  they 
are  harder  to  poison  than  wolves.  Most  often 
they  are  killed  in  traps,  which  are  sometimes 
dead-falls,  on  the  principle  of  the  little  figure- 
4  trap  familiar  to  every  American  country 
boy,  sometimes  log-pens  in  which  the  animal 
is  taken  alive,  but  generally  huge  steel  gins. 
In  some  states  there  is  a  bounty  for  the  de- 
struction of  grislies ;  and  in  many  places  their 
skins  have  a  market  price,  although  much 
less  valuable  than  those  of  the  black  bear. 
The  men  who  pursue  them  for  the  bounty,  or 
for  their  fur,  as  well  as  the  ranchmen  who 
regard  them  as  foes  to  stock,  ordinarily  use 
steel  traps.  The  trap  is  very  massive,  need- 
ing no  small  strength  to  set,  and  it  is  usually 
chained  to  a  bar  or  log  of  wood,  which  does 
not  stop  the  bear's  progress  outright,  but 
hampers  and  interferes  with  it,  continually 
catching  in  tree  stumps  and  the  like.  The 
animal  when  trapped  makes  off  at  once,  bit- 


72  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

ing  at  the  trap  and  the  bar ;  but  it  leaves  a 
broad  wake  and  sooner  or  later  is  found  tan- 
gled up  by  the  chain  and  b'ar.  A  bear  is  by 
no  means  so  difficult  to  trap  as  a  wolf  or  fox 
although  more  so  than  a  cougar  or  a  lynx. 
In  wild  regions  a  skilful  trapper  can  often 
catch  a  great  many  with  comparative  ease.  A 
cunning  old  grisly  however,  soon  learns  the 
danger,  and  is  then  almost  impossible  to  trap, 
as  it  either  avoids  the  neighborhood  alto- 
gether or  finds  out  some  way  by  which  to  get 
at  the  bait  without  springing  the  trap,  or  else 
deliberately  springs  it  first.  I  have  been  told 
of  bears  which  spring  traps  by  rolling  across 
them,  the  iron  jaws  slipping  harmlessly  off 
the  big  round  body.  An  old  horse  is  the 
most  common  bait. 

It  is,  of  course,  all  right  to  trap  bears  when 
they  are  followed  merely  as  vermin  or  for  the 
sake  of  the  fur.  Occasionally,  however, 
hunters  who  are  out  merely  for  sport  adopt 
this  method  ;  but  this  should  never  be  done. 
To  shoot  a  trapped  bear  for  sport  is  a 
thoroughly  unsportsmanlike  proceeding.  A 
funny  plea  sometimes  advanced  in  its  favor  is 
that  it  is  "  dangerous."  No  doubt  in  ex- 
ceptional instances  this  is  true  ;  exactly  as  it 
is  true  that  in  exceptional  instances  it  is  "  dan- 
gerous "  for  a  butcher  to  knock  over  a  steer 
in  the  slaughter-house.  A  bear  caught  only  by 
the  toes  may  wrench  itself  free  as  the  hunter 
comes  near,  and  attack  him  with  pain- 
maddened  fury ;  or  if  followed  at  once,  and  if 
the  trap  and  bar  are  light,  it  may  be  found  in 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    73 

some  thicket,  still  free,  and  in  a  frenzy  of  rage. 
But  even  in  such,  cases  the  beast  has  been 
crippled,  and  though  crazy  with  pain  and  anger 
is  easily  dealt  with  by  a  good  shot ;  while  or- 
dinarily the  poor  brute  is  found  in  the  last 
stages  of  exhaustion,  tied  tight  to  a  tree  where 
the  log  or  bar  has  caught,  its  teeth  broken  to 
splintered  stumps  by  rabid  snaps  at  the  cruel 
trap  and  chain.  Some  trappers  kill  the  trapped 
grislies  with  a  revolver ;  so  that  it  may  easily 
be  seen  that  the  sport  is  not  normally  danger- 
ous. Two  of  my  own  cowboys,  Seawell  and 
Dow,  were  originally  from  Maine,  where  they 
had  trapped  a  number  of  black  bears;  and 
they  always  killed  them  either  with  a  hatchet 
or  a  small  32-calibre  revolver.  One  of  them, 
Seawell,  once  came  near  being  mauled  by  a 
trapped  bear,  seemingly  at  the  last  gasp,  which 
he  approached  incautiously  with  his  hatchet. 

There  is,  however,  one  very  real  danger  to 
which  the  solitary  bear-trapper  is  exposed,  the 
danger  of  being  caught  in  his  own  trap.  The 
huge  jaws  of  the  gin  are  easy  to  spring  and 
most  hard  to  open.  If  an  unwary  passer-by 
should  tread  between  them  and  be  caught  by 
the  leg,  his  fate  would  be  doubtful,  though  he 
w  ould  probably  die  under  the  steadily  growing 
torment  of  the  merciless  iron  jaws,  as  they 
pressed  ever  deeper  into  the  sore  flesh  and 
broken  bones.  But  if  caught  by  the  arms, 
while  setting  or  fixing  the  trap,  his  fate  would 
be  in  no  doubt  at  all,  for  it  would  be  impossible 
for  the  stoutest  man  to  free  himself  by  any 
means.  Terrible  stories  are  told  of  solitary 


74  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

mountain  hunters  who  disappeared,  and  were 
found  years  later  in  the  lonely  wilderness,  as 
mouldering  skeletons,  the  shattered  bones  of 
the  forearms  still  held  in  the  rusty  jaws  of  the 
gin. 

Doubtless  the  grisly  could  be  successfully 
hunted  with  dogs,  if  the  latter  were  carefully 
bred  and  trained  to  the  purpose,  but  as  yet 
this  has  not  been  done,  and  though  dogs  are 
sometimes  used  as  adjuncts  in  grisly  hunting 
they  are  rarely  of  much  service.  It  is  some- 
times said  that  very  small  dogs  are  the  best 
for  this  end.  But  this  is  only  so  with  grislies 
that  have  never  been  hunted.  In  such  a  case 
the  big  bear  sometimes  becomes  so  irritated 
with  the  bouncing,  yapping  little  terriers  or 
fice-dogs  that  he  may  try  to  catch  them  and 
thus  permit  the  hunter  to  creep  upon  him. 
But  the  minute  he  realizes,  as  he  speedily  does, 
that  the  man  is  his  real  foe,  he  pays  no  further 
heed  whatever  to  the  little  dogs,  who  can  then 
neither  bring  him  to  bay  nor  hinder  his  flight. 
Ordinary  hounds,  of  the  kinds  used  in  the 
South  for  fox,  deer,  wild-cat,  and  black  bear, 
are  but  little  better.  I  have  known  one  or 
two  men  who  at  different  times  tried  to  hunt 
the  grisly  with  a  pack  of  hounds  and  fice-dogs 
wonted  to  the  chase  of  the  black  bear,  but 
they  never  met  with  success.  This  was  pro- 
bably largely  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  country 
in  which  they  hunted,  a  vast  tangled  mass  of 
forest  and  craggy  mountain ;  but  it  was  also 
due  to  the  utter  inability  of  the  dogs  to  stop 
the  quarry  from  breaking  bay  when  it  wished. 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    75 

Several  times  a  grisly  was  bayed,  but  always 
in  some  inaccessible  spot  which  it  took  hard 
climbing  to  reach,  and  the  dogs  were  never 
able  to  hold  the  beast  until  the  hunters  came 
up. 

Still  a  well-trained  pack  of  large  hounds 
which  were  both  bold  and  cunning  could 
doubtless  bay  even  a  grisly.  Such  dogs  are 
the  big  half-breed  hounds  sometimes  used  in 
the  Alleghanies  of  West  Virginia,  which  are 
trained  not  merely  to  nip  a  bear,  but  to  grip 
him  by  the  hock  as  he  runs  and  either  throw 
him  or  twirl  him  round.  A  grisly  could  not 
disregard  a  wary  and  powerful  hound  capable 
of  performing  this  trick,  even  though  he  paid 
small  heed  to  mere  barking  and  occasional 
nipping.  Nor  do  I  doubt  that  it  would  be 
possible  to  get  together  a  pack  of  many  large, 
fierce  dogs,  trained  to  dash  straight  at  the 
head  and  hold  on  like  a  vice,  which  could 
fairly  master  a  grisly  and,  though  unable,  of 
course,  to  kill  him,  would  worry  him  breathless 
and  hold  him  down  so  that  he  could  be  slain 
with  ease.  There  have  been  instances  in 
which  five  or  six  of  the  big  so-called  blood- 
hounds of  the  southern  States — not  pure  blood- 
hounds at  all,  but  huge,  fierce,  ban-dogs,  with 
a  cross  of  the  ferocious  Cuban  blood-hound, 
to  give  them  good  scenting  powers — have  by 
themselves  mastered  the  cougar  and  the  black 
bear.  Such  instances  occurred  in  the  hunting 
history  of  my  own  forefathers  on  my  mother's 
side,  who  during  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth, 
and  the  first  half  of  the  present,  century  lived 


j6  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

in  Georgia  and  over  the  border  in  what  are 
now  Alabama  and  Florida.  These  big  dogs 
can  only  overcome  such  foes  by  rushing  in  in 
a  body  and  grappling  all  together  ;  if  they  hang 
back,  lunging  and  snapping,  a  cougar  or  bear 
will  destroy  them  one  by  one.  With  a  quarry 
so  huge  and  redoubtable  as  the  grisly,  no  nun> 
ber  of  dogs,  however  large  and  fierce,  could 
overcome  him  unless  they  all  rushed  on  him  in  a 
mass,  the  first  in  the  charge  seizing  by  the  head 
or  throat.  If  the  dogs  hung  back,  or  if  there 
were  only  a  few  of  them,  or  if  they  did  not 
seize  around  the  head,  they  would  be  des- 
troyed without  an  effort.  It  is  murder  to  slip 
merely  one  or  two  close-quarter  dogs  at  a  grisly. 
Twice  I  have  known  a  man  take  a  large  bull- 
dog with  his  pack  when  after  one  of  these  big 
bears,  and  in  each  case  the  result  was  the 
same.  In  one  instance  the  bear  was  trotting 
when  the  bulldog  seized  it  by  the  cheek,  and 
without  so  much  as  altering  its  gait,  it  brushed 
off  the  hanging  dog  with  a  blow  from  the  fore- 
paw  that  broke  the  latter's  back.  In  the  other 
instance  the  bear  had  come  to  bay,  and  when 
seized  by  the  ear  it  got  the  dog*s  body  up  to 
its  jaws,  and  tore  out  the  life  with  one  crunch. 
A  small  number  of  dogs  must  rely  on 
their  activity,  and  must  hamper  the  bear's 
escape  by  inflicting  a  severe  bite  and  avoid- 
ing the  counter-stroke.  The  only  dog  I  ever 
heard  of  which,  single-handed,  was  really  of 
service  in  stopping  a  grisly,  was  a  big  Mexican 
sheep-dog,  once  owned  by  the  hunter  Tazewell 
Woody.  It  was  an  agile  beast  with  powerful 


OLD  EPHRAIM,   THE  GRISLY  BEAR.    77 

jaws,  and  possessed  both  intelligence  and  a 
fierce,  resolute  temper.  Woody  killed  three 
grislies  with  its  aid.  It  attacked  with  equal 
caution  and  ferocity,  rushing  at  the  bear  as 
the  latter  ran,  and  seizing  the  outstretched 
hock  with  a  grip  of  iron,  stopping  the  bear 
short,  but  letting  go  before  the  angry  beast 
could  whirl  round  and  seize  it.  It  was  so 
active  and  wary  that  it  always  escaped  da- 
mage ;  and  it  was  so  strong  and  bit  so  severely 
that  the  bear  could  not  possibly  run  from  it  at 
any  speed.  In  consequence,  if  it  once  came 
to  close  quarters  with  its  quarry,  Woody  could 
always  get  near  enough  for  a  shot. 

Hitherto,  however,  the  mountain  hunters— 
as  distinguished  from  the  trappers — who  have 
followed  the  grisly  have  relied  almost  solely  on 
their  rifles.  In  my  own  case  about  half  the 
bears  I  have  killed  I  stumbled  across  almost 
by  accident;  and  probably  this  proportion 
holds  good  generally.  The  hunter  may  be 
after  bear  at  the  time,  or  he  may  be  after  black- 
tail  deer  or  elk,  the  common  game  in  most  of 
the  haunts  of  the  grisly ;  or  he  may  merely  be 
travelling  through  the  country  or  prospecting 
for  gold.  Suddenly  he  comes  over  the  edge  of  a 
cut  bank,  or  round  the  sharp  spur  of  a  mountain 
or  the  shoulder  of  a  cliff  which  walls  in  a  ravine, 
or  else  the  indistinct  game  trail  he  has  been 
following  through  the  great  trees  twists  sharply 
to  one  side  to  avoid  a  rock  or  a  mass  of  down 
timber,  and  behold  he  surprises  old  Ephraim 
digging  for  roots,  or  munching  berries,  or 
slouching  along  the  path,  or  perhaps  rising 


7  8  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

suddenly  from  the  lush,  rank  plants  amid  which ] 
he  has  been  lying.     Or  it  may  be  that  the  bear 
will  be  spied  afar  rooting  in  an  open  glade  or 
on  a  bare  hill-side. 

In  the  still-hunt  proper  it  is  necessary  to 
find  some  favorite  feeding  ground,  where  there 
are  many  roots  or  berry-bearing  bushes,  or 
else  to  lure  the  grisly  to  a  carcass.  This  last 
method  of  "  baiting  "  forbear  is  under  ordinary 
circumstances  the  only  way  which  affords  even 
a  moderately  fair  chance  of  killing  them. 
They  are  very  cunning,  with  the  sharpest  of 
noses,  and  where  they  have  had  experience  of 
hunters  they  dwell  only  in  cover  where  it  is  al- 
most impossible  for  the  best  of  still-hunters  to 
approach  them. 

Nevertheless,  in  favorable  ground  a  man 
can  often  find  and  kill  them  by  fair  stalking, 
in  berry  time,  or  more  especially  in  the  early 
spring,  before  the  snow  has  gone  from  the 
mountains,  and  while  the  bears  are  driven  by 
hunger  to  roam  much  abroad  and  sometimes 
to  seek  their  food  in  the  open.  In  such  cases 
the  still-hunter  is  stirring  by  the  earliest  dawn, 
and  walks  with  stealthy  speed  to  some  high 
point  of  observation  from  which  he  can  over- 
look the  feeding-grounds  where  he  has  previ- 
ously discovered  sign.  From  the  coign  of 
vantage  he  scans  the  country  far  and  near, 
either  with  his  own  keen  eyes  or  with  powerful 
glasses ;  and  he  must  combine  patience  and 
good  sight  with  the  ability  to  traverse  long  dis- 
tances noiselessly  and  yet  at  speed.  He  may 
spend  two  or  three  hours  sitting  still  and  look- 


OLD  EPHRAIM,  THE  GRISL  Y  BEAR.    79 

ing  over  a  vast  tract  of  country  before  he  will 
suddenly  spy  a  bear ;  or  he  may  see  nothing 
after  the  most  careful  search  in  a  given  place, 
and  must  then  go  on  half  a  dozen  miles  to  an- 
other, watching  warily  as  he  walks,  and  con- 
tinuing this  possibly  for  several  days  before 
getting  a  glimpse  of  his  game.  If  the  bear 
are  digging  roots,  or  otherwise  procuring  their 
food  on  the  bare  hill  sides  and  table-lands,  it  is 
of  course  comparatively  easy  to  see  them  ;  and 
it  is  under  such  circumstances  that  this  kind 
of  hunting  is  most  successful.  Once  seen,  the 
actual  stalk  may  take  two  or  three  hours,  the 
nature  of  the  ground  and  the  direction  of 
the  wind  often  necessitating  a  long  circuit  ; 
perhaps  a  gully,  a  rock,  or  a  fallen  log  offers 
a  chance  for  an  approach  to  within  two  hun- 
dred yards,  and  although  the  hunter  will,  if 
possible,  get  much  closer  than  this,  yet  even 
at  such  a  distance  a  bear  is  a  large  enough  mark 
to  warrant  risking  a  shot. 

Usually  the  berry  grounds  do  not  offer  such 
favorable  opportunities,  as  they  often  lie  in 
thick  timber,  or  are  covered  so  densely  with 
bushes  as  to  obstruct  the  view  ;  and  they  are 
rarely  commanded  by  a  favorable  spot  from 
which  to  spy.  On  the  other  hand,  as  already 
said,  bears  occasionally  forget  all  their  watch- 
fulness while  devouring  fruit,  and  make  such 
a  noise  rending  and  tearing  the  bushes  that,  if 
once  found,  a  man  can  creep  upon  them  un- 
observed. 


So  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HUNTING   THE   GRISLY. 

IF  out  in  the  late  fall  or  early  spring,  it  is 
often  possible  to  follow  a  bear's  trail  in 
the  snow  ;  having  come  upon  it  either  by 
chance  or  hard  hunting,  or  else  having  found 
where  it  leads  from  some  carcass  on  which  the 
beast  has  been  feeding.  In  the  pursuit  one 
must  exercise  great  caution,  as  at  such  times 
the  hunter  is  easily  seen  a  long  way  off,  and 
game  is  always  especially  watchful  for  any  foe 
that  may  follow  its  trail. 

Once  I  killed  a  grisly  in  this  manner.  It 
was  early  in  the  fall,  but  snow  lay  on  the 
ground,  while  the  gray  weather  boded  a  storm. 
My  camp  was  in  a  bleak,  wind-swept  valley, 
high  among  the  mountains  which  form  the 
divide  between  the  head-waters  of  the  Salmon 
and  Clarke's  Fork  of  the  Columbia.  All  night 
I  had  lain  in  my  buffalo-bag,  under  the  lea  of 
a  windbreak  of  branches,  in  the  clump  of  fir- 
trees,  where  I  had  halted  the  preceding  eve- 
ning. At  my  feet  ran  a  rapid  mountain  tor- 
rent, its  bed  choked  with  ice-covered  rocks  ;  I 
had  been  lulled  to  sleep  by  the  stream's 
splashing  murmur,  and  the  loud  moaning  of 
the  wind  along  the  naked  cliffs.  At  dawn  I 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  8 1 

rose  and  shook  myself  free  of  the  buffalo  robe, 
coated  with  hoar-frost.  The  ashes  of  the  fire 
were  lifeless  ;  in  the  dim  morning  the  air  was 
bitter  cold.  I  did  not  linger  a  moment,  but 
snatched  up  my  rifle,  pulled  on  my  fur  cap 
and  gloves,  and  strode  off  up  a  side  ravine  ; 
as  I  walked  I  ate  some  mouthfuls  of  venison, 
left  over  from  supper. 

Two  hours  of  toil  up  the  steep  mountain 
brought  me  to  the  top  of  a  spur.  The  sun  had 
risen,  but  was  hidden  behind  a  bank  of  sullen 
clouds.  On  the  divide  I  halted,  and  gazed 
out  over  a  vast  landscape,  inconceivably  wild 
and  dismal.  Around  me  towered  the  stupen- 
dous mountain  masses  which  make  up  the 
backbone  of  the  Rockies.  From  my  feet,  as 
far  as  I  could  see,  stretched  a  rugged  and 
barren  chaos  of  ridges  and  detached  rock 
masses.  Behind  me,  far  below,  the  stream 
wound  like  a  silver  ribbon,  fringed  with  dark 
conifers  and  the  changing,  dying  foliage  of 
poplar  and  quaking  aspen.  In  front  the  bot- 
toms of  the  valleys  were  filled  with  the  som- 
bre evergreen  forest,  dotted  here  and  there 
with  black,  ice-skimmed  tarns  ;  and  the  dark 
spruces  clustered  also  in  the  higher  gorges> 
and  were  scattered  thinly  along  the  mountain 
sides.  The  snow  which  had  fallen  lay  in  drifts 
and  streaks,  while,  where  the  wind  had  scope 
it  was  blown  off,  and  the  ground  left  bare. 

For  two  hours  I  walked  onwards  across  the 
ridges  and  valleys.  Then  among  some  scat- 
tered spruces,  where  the  snow  lay  to  the  depth 
of  half  a  foot,  I  suddenly  came  on  the  fresh, 


82  HUNTING  THE  GRTSLY. 

broad  trail  of  a  grisly.  The  brute  was  evi- 
dently roaming  restlessly  about  in  search  of  a 
winter  den,  but  willing,  in  passing,  to  pick  up 
any  food  that  lay  handy.  At  once  I  took  the 
trail,  travelling  above  and  to  one  side,  and 
keeping  a  sharp  look-out  ahead.  The  bear  was 
going  across  wind,  and  this  made  my  task 
easy.  I  walked  rapidly,  though  cautiously  ; 
and  it  was  only  in  crossing  the  large  patches 
of  bare  ground  that  I  had  to  fear  making  a 
noise.  Elsewhere  the  snow  muffled  my  foot- 
steps, and  made  the  trail  so  plain  that  I 
scarcely  had  to  waste  a  glance  upon  it,  bending 
my  eyes  always  to  the  front. 

At  last,  peering  cautiously  over  a  ridge 
crowned  with  broken  rocks,  I  saw  my  quarry, 
a  big,  burly  bear,  with  silvered  fur.  He  had 
halted  on  an  open  hill-side,  and  was  busily  dig- 
ging up  the  caches  of  some  rock  gophers  or 
squirrels.  He  seemed  absorbed  in  his  work, 
and  the  stalk  was  easy.  Slipping  quietly  back, 
I  ran  towards  the  end  of  the  spur,  and  in  ten 
minutes  struck  a  ravine,  of  which  one  branch 
ran  past  within  seventy  yards  of  where  the 
bear  was  working.  In  this  ravine  was  a  rath- 
er close  growth  of  stunted*  evergreens,  afford- 
ing good  cover,  although  in  one  or  two  places 
I  had  to  lie  down  and  crawl  through  the  snow. 
When  I  reached  the  point  for  which  I  was 
aiming,  the  bear  had  just  finished  rooting,  and 
was  starting  off.  A  slight  whistle  brought  him 
to  a  standstill,  and  I  drew  a  bead  behind  his 
shoulder,  and  low  down,  resting  the  rifle  across 
the  crooked  branch  of  a  dwarf  spruce.  At 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  83 

the  crack  he  ran  off  at-  speed,  making  no 
sound,  but  the  thick  spatter  of  blood  splashes, 
showing  clear  on  the  white  snow,  betrayed  the 
mortal  nature  of  the  wound.  For  some  min- 
utes I  followed  the  trail  ;  and  then,  topping  a 
ridge,  I  saw  the  dark  bulk  lying  motionless  in 
a  snow  drift  at  the  foot  of  a  low  rock-wall, 
down  which  he  had  tumbled. 

The  usual  practice  of  the  still-hunter  who 
is  after  grisly  is  to  toll  it  to  baits.  The  hun- 
ter either  lies  in  ambush  near  the  carcass,  or 
approaches  it  stealthily  when  he  thinks  the 
bear  is  at  its  meal. 

One  day  while  carr  >ed  near  the  Bitter  Root 
Mountains  in  Mon*  na  I  found  that  a  bear 
had  been  feeding  ov<  the  carcass  of  a  moose 
which  lay  some  five  miles  from  the  little  open 
glade  in  which  my  tent  was  pitched,  and  I 
made  up  my  mind  to  try  to  get  a  shot  at  it 
that  afternoon.  I  stayed  in  camp  till  about 
three  o'clock,  lying  lazily  back  on  the  bed  of 
sweet-smelling  evergreen  boughs,  watching  the 
pack  ponies  as  they  stood  under  the  pines  on 
the  edge  of  the  open,  stamping  now  and  then, 
and  switching  their  tails.  The  air  was  still, 
the  sky  a  glorious  blue ;  at  that  hour  in  the 
afternoon  even  the  September  sun  was  hot. 
The  smoke  from  the  smouldering  logs  of  the 
camp  fire  curled  thinly  upwards.  Little  chip- 
munks scuttled  out  from  their  holes  to  the 
packs,  which  lay  in  a  heap  on  the  ground,  and 
then  scuttled  madly  back  again.  A  couple 
of  drab-colored  whisky-jacks,  with  bold  mien 
and  fearless  bright  eyes,  hopped  and  fluttered 


84  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY, 

round,  picking  up  the  scraps,  and  uttering  an 
extraordinary  variety  of  notes,  mostly  discord- 
ant ;  so  tame  were  they  that  one  of  them  lit 
on  my  outstretched  arm  as  I  half  dozed,  bask- 
ing in  the  sunshine. 

When  the  shadows  began  to  lengthen,  I 
shouldered  my  rifle  and  plunged  into  the  woods. 
At  first  my  route  lay  along  a  mountain  side ; 
then  for  half  a  mile  over  a  windfall,  the  dead 
timber  piled  about  in  crazy  confusion.  After 
that  I  went  up  the  bottom  of  a  valley  by  a 
little  brook,  the  ground  being  carpeted  with  a 
sponge  of  soaked  moss.  At  the  head  of  this 
brook  was  a  pond  covered  with  water-lilies  ; 
and  a  scramble  through  a  rocky  pass  took  me 
into  a  high,  wet  valley,  where  the  thick  growth 
of  spruce  was  broken  by  occasional  strips  of 
meadow.  In  this  valley  the  moose  carcass 
lay,  well  at  the  upper  end. 

In  moccasined  feet  I  trod  softly  through  the 
soundless  woods.  Under  the  dark  branches 
it  was  already  dusk,  and  the  air  had  the  cool 
chill  of  evening.  As  I  neared  the  clump 
where  the  body  lay,  I  walked  with  redoubled 
caution,  watching  and  listening  with  strained 
alertness.  Then  I  heard  a  twig  snap ;  and 
my  blood  leaped,  for  I  knew  the  bear  was  at 
his  supper.  In  another  moment  I  saw  his 
shaggy,  brown  form.  He  was  working  with 
all  his  awkward  giant  strength,  trying  to  bury 
the  carcass,  twisting  it  to  one  side  and  the 
other  with  wonderful  ease.  Once  he  got 
angry  and  suddenly  gave  it  a  tremendous  cuff 
with  his  paw ;  in  his  bearing  he  had  something 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  85 

half  humorous,  half  devilish.  I  crept  up 
within  forty  yards;  but  for  several  minutes 
he  would  not  keep  his  head  still.  Then  some- 
thing attracted  his  attention  in  the  forest,  and 
he  stood  motionless  looking  towards  it,  broad- 
side to  me,  with  his  fore-paws  planted  on  the 
carcass.  This  gave  me  my  chance.  I  drew 
a  very  fine  bead  between  his  eye  and  ear,  and 
pulled  trigger.  He  dropped  like  a  steer  when 
struck  with  a  pole-axe. 

If  there  is  a  good  hiding-place  handy  it  is 
better  to  lie  in  wait  at  the  carcass.  One  day 
on  the  head-waters  of  the  Madison,  I  found 
that  a  bear  was  coming  to  an  elk  I  had  shot 
some  days  before ;  and  I  at  once  determined  to 
ambush  the  beast  when  he  came  back  that 
evening.  The  carcass  lay  in  the  middle  of  a 
valley  a  quarter  of  a  mile  broad.  The  bottom 
of  this  valley  was  covered  by  an  open  forest 
of  tall  pines ;  a  thick  jungle  of  smaller  ever- 
greens marked  where  the  mountains  rose  on 
either  hand.  There  were  a  number  of  large 
rocks  scattered  here  and  there,  one,  of  very 
convenient  shape,  being  only  some  seventy  or 
eighty  yards  from  the  carcass.  Up  this  I 
clambered.  It  hid  me  perfectly,  and  on  its 
top  was  a  carpet  of  soft  pine  needles,  on  which 
I  could  lie  at  my  ease. 

Hour  after  hour  passed  by.  A  little  black 
woodpecker  with  a  yellow  crest  ran  nimbly 
up  and  down  the  tree-trunks  for  some  time 
and  then  flitted  away  with  a  party  of  chicka- 
dees and  nut-hatches.  Occasionally  a  Clarke's 
crow  soared  about  overhead  or  clung  in  any 


86  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

position  to  the  swaying  end  of  a  pine  branch, 
chattering  and  screaming.  Flocks  of  cross- 
bills, with  wavy  flight  and  plaintive  calls,  flew 
to  a  small  mineral  lick  near  by,  where  they 
scraped  the  clay  with  their  queer  little  beaks. 

As  the  westering  sun  sank  out  of  sight  be- 
yond the  mountains  these  sounds  of  bird-life 
gradually  died  away.  Under  the  great  pines 
the  evening  was  still  with  the  silence  of  prime- 
val desolation.  The  sense  of  sadness  and 
loneliness,  the  melancholy  of  the  wilderness, 
came  over  me  like  a  spell.  Every  slight  noise 
made  my  pulses  throb  as  I  lay  motionless  on 
the  rock  gazing  intently  into  the  gathering 
gloom.  I  began  to  fear  that  it  would  grow 
too  dark  to  shoot  before  the  grisly  came. 

Suddenly  and  without  warning,  the  great 
bear  stepped  out  of  the  bushes  and  trod  across 
the  pine  needles  with  such  swift  and  silent 
footsteps  that  its  bulk  seemed  unreal.  It  was 
very  cautious,  continually  halting  to  peer 
around ;  and  once  it  stood  up  on  its  hind  legs 
and  looked  long  down  the  valley  towards  the 
red  west.  As  it  reached  the  carcass  I  put  a 
bullet  between  its  shoulders.  It  rolled  over, 
while  the  woods  resounded  with  its  savage 
roaring.  Immediately  it  struggled  to  its  feet 
and  staggered  off ;  and  fell  again  to  the  next 
shot,  squalling  and  yelling.  Twice  this  was 
repeated ;  the  brute  being  one  of  those  bears 
which  greet  every  wound  with  a  great  outcry, 
and  sometimes  seem  to  lose  their  feet  when  hit 
— although  they  will  occasionally  fight  as 
savagely  as  their  more  silent  brethren.  In 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY,  87 

this  case  the  wounds  were  mortal,  and  the 
bear  died  before  reaching  the  edge  of  the 
thicket. 

I  spent  much  of  the  fall  of  1889  hunting  on 
the  head-waters  of  the  Salmon  and  Snake  in 
Idaho,  and  along  the  Montana  boundary  line 
from  the  Big  Hole  Basin  and  the  head  of  the 
Wisdom  River  to  the  neighborhood  of  Red 
Rock  Pass  and  to  the  north  and  west  of 
Henry's  Lake.  During  the  last  fortnight  my 
companion  was  the  old  mountain  man,  already 
mentioned,  named  Griffeth  or  Griffin — I  can- 
not tell  which,  as  he  was  always  called  either 
"Hank"  or  "Griff."  He  was  a  crabbedly 
honest  old  fellow,  and  a  very  skilful  hunter ; 
but  he  was  worn  out  with  age  and  rheumatism, 
and  his  temper  had  failed  even  faster  than  his 
bodily  strength.  He  showed  me  a  greater 
variety  of  game  than  I  had  ever  seen  before 
in  so  short  a  time ;  nor  did  I  ever  before  or 
after  make  so  successful  a  hunt.  But  he  was 
an  exceedingly  disagreeable  companion  on 
account  of  his  surly,  moody  ways.  I  gener- 
ally had  to  get  up  first,  to  kindle  the  fire  and 
make  ready  breakfast,  and  he  was  very  quarrel- 
some. Finally,  during  my  absence  from  camp 
one  day,  while  not  very  far  from  Red  Rock 
pass,  he  found  my  whisky-flask,  which  I  kept 
purely  for  emergencies,  and  drank  all  the  con- 
•  tents.  When  I  came  back  he  was  quite  drunk. 
This  was  unbearable,  and  after  some  high 
words  I  left  him,  and  struck  off  homeward 
through  the  woods  on  my  own  account.  We 
had  with  us  four  pack  and  saddle  horses ;  and 


88  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

of  these  I  took  a  very  intelligent  and  gentle 
little  bronco  mare,  which  possessed  the  in- 
valuable trait  of  always  staying  near  camp, 
even  when  not  hobbled.  I  was  not  hampered 
with  much  of  an  outfit,  having  only  my  buffalo 
sleeping-bag,  a  fur  coat,  and  my  washing  kit, 
with  a  couple  of  spare  pairs  of  socks  and 
some  handkerchiefs.  A  frying-pan,  some  salt, 
flour,  baking-powder,  a  small  chunk  of  salt 
pork,  and  a  hatchet,  made  up  a  light  pack, 
which,  with  the  bedding,  I  fastened  across  the 
stock  saddle  by  means  of  a  rope  and  a  spare 
packing  cinch.  My  cartridges  and  knife  were 
in  my  belt;  my  compass  and  matches,  as  al- 
ways, in  my  pocket.  I  walked,  while  the  little 
mare  followed  almost  like  a  dog,  often  without 
my  having  to  hold  the  lariat  which  served  as 
halter. 

The  country  was  for  the  most  part  fairly 
open,  as  I  kept  near  the  foot-hills  where 
glades  and  little  prairies  broke  the  pine 
forest.  The  trees  were  of  small  size.  There 
was  no  regular  trail,  but  the  course  was  easy 
to  keep,  and  I  had  no  trouble  of  any  kind 
save  on  the  second  day.  That  afternoon  I 
was  following  a  stream  which  at  last  "  can- 
yoned  up,"  that  is,  sank  to  the  bottom  of  a 
canyon-like  ravine  impassable  for  a  horse.  I 
started  up  a  side  valley,  intending  to  cross 
from  its  head  coulies  to  those  of  another  valley 
which  would  lead  in  below  the  canyon. 

However,  I  got  enmeshed  in  the  tangle  of 
winding  valleys  at  the  foot  of  the  steep  moun- 
tains, and  as  dusk  was  coming  on  I  halted 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  89 

and  camped  in  a  little  open  spot  by  the  side 
of  a  small,  noisy  brook,  with  crystal  water. 
The  place  was  carpeted  with  soft,  wet,  green 
moss,  dotted  red  with  the  kinnikinnic  berries, 
and  at  its  edge,  under  the  trees  where  the 
ground  was  dry,  I  threw  down  the  buffalo  bed 
on  the  mat  of  sweet-smelling  pine  needles. 
Making  camp  took  but  a  moment.  I  opened 
the  pack,  tossed  the  bedding  on  a  smooth 
spot,  knee-haltered  the  little  mare,  dragged  up 
a  few  dry  logs,  and  then  strolled  off,  rifle  on 
shoulder,  through  the  frosty  gloaming,  to  see 
if  I  could  pick  up  a  grouse  for  supper. 

For  half  a  mile  I  walked  quickly  and  silently 
over  the  pine  needles,  across  a  succession  of 
slight  ridges  separated  by  narrow,  shallow 
valleys.  The  forest  here  was  composed  of 
lodge-pole  pines,  which  on  the  ridges  grew 
close  together,  with  tall  slender  trunks,  while 
in  the  valleys  the  growth  was  more  open. 
Though  the  sun  was  behind  the  mountains 
there  was  yet  plenty  of  light  by  which  to  shoot, 
but  it  was  fading  rapidly. 

At  last,  as  I  was  thinking  of  turning  towards 
camp,  I  stole  up  to  the  crest  of  one  of  the 
ridges,  and  looked  over  into  the  valley  some 
sixty  yards  off.  Immediately  I  caught  the 
loom  of  some  large,  dark  object ;  and  another 
glance  showed  me  a  big  grisly  walking  slowly 
off  with  his  head  down.  He  was  quartering 
to  me,  and  I  fired  into  his  flank,  the  bullet,  as 
I  afterwards  found,  ranging  forward  and 
piercing  one  lung.  At  the  shot  he  uttered  a 
loud,  moaning  grunt  and  plunged  forward  at 


90  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

a  heavy  gallop,  while  I  raced  obliquely  down 
the  hill  to  cut  him  off.  After  going  a  few 
hundred  feet  he  reached  a  laurel  thicket,  some 
thirty  yards  broad,  and  two  or  three  times  as 
long  which  he  did  not  leave.  I  ran  up  to  the 
edge  and  there  halted,  not  liking  to  venture 
into  the  mass  of  twisted,  close-growing  stems 
and  glossy  foliage.  Moreover,  as  I  halted,  I 
heard  him  utter  a  peculiar,  savage  kind  of 
whine  from  the  heart  of  the  brush.  Accord- 
ingly, I  began  to  skirt  the  edge,  standing  on 
tiptoe  and  gazing  earnestly  to  see  if  I  could 
not  catch  a  glimpse  of  his  hide.  When  I  was 
at  the  narrowest  part  of  the  thicket,  he  sud- 
denly left  it  directly  opposite,  and  then  wheeled 
and  stood  broadside  to  me  on  the  hill-side,  a 
little  above.  He  turned  his  head  stiffly  to- 
wards me ;  scarlet  strings  of  froth  hung 
from  his  lips ;  his  eyes  burned  like  embers  in 
the  gloom. 

I  held  true,  aiming  behind  the  shoulder, 
and  my  bullet  shattered  the  point  or  lower 
end  of  his  heart,  taking  out  a  big  nick.  In- 
stantly the  great  bear  turned  with  a  harsh 
roar  of  fury  and  challenge,  blowing  the  bloody 
foam  from  his  mouth,  so  that  I  saw  the  gleam 
of  his  white  fangs ;  and  then  he  charged 
straight  at  me,  crashing  and  bounding  through 
the  laurel  bushes,  so  that  it  was  hard  to  aim. 
I  waited  until  he  came  to  a  fallen  tree,  raking 
him  as  he  topped  it  with  a  ball,  which  entered 
his  chest  and  went  through  the  cavity  of  his 
body,  but  he  neither  swerved  nor  flinched, 
and  at  the  moment  I  did  not  know  that  I  had 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  91 

struck  him.  He  came  steadily  on,  and  in 
another  second  was  almost  upon  me.  I  fired 
for  his  forehead,  but  my  bullet  went  low, 
entering  his  open  mouth,  smashing  his  lower 
jaw  and  going  into  the  neck.  I  leaped  to  one 
side  almost  as  I  pulled  trigger ;  and  through 
the  hanging  smoke  the  first  thing  I  saw  was 
his  paw  as  he  made  a  vicious  side  blow  at 
me.  The  rush  of  his  charge  carried  him 
past.  As  he  struck  he  lurched  forward,  leav- 
ing a  pool  of  bright  blood  where  his  muzzle 
hit  the  ground  ;  but  he  recovered  himself  and 
made  two  or  three  jumps  onwards,  while  I 
hurriedly  jammed  a  couple  of  cartridges  into 
the  magazine,  my  rifle  holding  only  four,  all  of 
which  I  had  fired.  Then  he  tried  to  pull  up, 
but  as  he  did  so  his  muscles  seemed  suddenly 
to  give  way,  his  head  drooped,  and  he  rolled 
over  and  over  like  a  shot  rabbit.  Each  of 
my  first  three  bullets  had  inflicted  a  mortal 
wound. 

It  was  already  twilight,  and  I  merely  opened 
the  carcass,  and  then  trotted  back  to  camp. 
Next  morning  I  returned  and  with  much  labor 
took  off  the  skin.  The  fur  was  very  fine,  the 
animal  being  in  excellent  trim,  and  unusually 
bright-colored.  Unfortunately,  in  packing  it 
out  I  lost  the  skull,  and  had  to  supply  its 
place  with  one  of  plaster.  The  beauty  of  the 
trophy,  and  the  memory  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  I  procured  it,  make  me  value  it 
perhaps  more  highly  than  any  other  in  my 
house. 

This  is  the  onlv  instance  in  which  I  have 


92  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

been  regularly  charged  by  a  grisly.  On  the 
whole,  the  danger  of  hunting  these  great  bears 
has  been  much  exaggerated.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century,  when  white 
hunters  first  encountered  the  grisly,  he  was 
doubtless  an  exceedingly  savage  beast,  prone 
to  attack  without  provocation,  and  a  redoubt- 
able foe  to  persons  armed  with  the  clumsy, 
small-bore,  muzzle-loading  rifles  of  the  day. 
But  at  present  bitter  experience  has  taught 
him  caution.  He  has  been  hunted  for  sport, 
and  hunted  for  his  pelt,  and  hunted  for  the 
bounty,  and  hunted  as  a  dangerous  enemy  to 
stock,  until,  save  in  the  very  wildest  districts, 
he  has  learned  to  be  more  wary  than  a  deer,  and 
to  avoid  man's  presence  almost  as  carefully 
as  the  most  timid  kind  of  game.  Except  in 
rare  cases  he  will  not  attack  of  his  own  ac- 
cord, and,  as  a  rule,  even  when  wounded  his 
object  is  escape  rather  than  battle. 

Still,  when  fairly  brought  to  bay,  or  when 
moved  by  a  sudden  fit  of  ungovernable  anger, 
the  grisly  is  beyond  peradventure  a  very 
dangerous  antagonist.  The  first  shot,  if  taken 
at  a  bear  a  good  distance  off  and  previously 
unwounded  and  unharried,  is  not  usually 
fraught  with  much  danger,  the  startled  animal 
being  at  the  outset  bent  merely  on  flight.  It 
is  always  hazardous,  however,  to  track  a 
wounded  and  worried  grisly  into  thick  cover, 
and  the  man  who  habitually  follows  and  kills 
this  chief  of  American  game  in  dense  timber, 
never  abandoning  the  bloody  trail  whitherso- 
ever it  leads,  must  show  no  small  degree  oi 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  93 

skill  and  hardihood,  and  must  not  too  closely 
count  the  risk  to  life  or  limb.  Bears  differ 
widely  in  temper,  and  occasionally  one  may 
be  found  who  will  not  show  fight,  no  matter 
how  much  he  is  bullied  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  a 
hunter  must  be  cautious  in  meddling  with  a 
wounded  animal  which  has  retreated  into  a 
dense  thicket,  and  has  been  once  or  twice 
roused  ;  and  such  a  beast,  when  it  does  turn, 
will  usually  charge  again  and  again,  and  fight 
to  the  last  with  unconquerable  ferocity.  The 
short  distance  at  which  the  bear  can  be  seen 
through  the  underbrush,  the  fury  of  his  charge, 
and  his  tenacity  of  life  make  it  necessary  for 
the  hunter  on  such  occasions  to  have  steady 
nerves  and  a  fairly  quick  and  accurate  aim. 
It  is  always  well  to  have  two  men  in  follow- 
ing a  wounded  bear  under  such  conditions. 
This  is  not  necessary,  however,  and  a  good 
hunter,  rather  than  lose  his  quarry,  will,  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  follow  and  attack  it, 
no  matter  how  tangled  the  fastness  in  which 
it  has  sought  refuge  ;  but  he  must  act  warily 
and  with  the  utmost  caution  and  resolution, 
if  he  wishes  to  escape  a  terrible  and  probably 
fatal  mauling.  An  experienced  hunter  is 
rarely  rash,  and  never  heedless  ;  he  will  not, 
when  alone,  follow  a  wounded  bear  into  a 
thicket,  if  by  the  exercise  of  patience,  skill, 
and  knowledge  of  the  game's  habits  he  can 
avoid  the  necessity  ;  but  it  is  idle  to  talk 
of  the  feat  as  something  which  ought  in  no 
case  to  be  attempted.  While  danger  ought 
never  to  be  needlessly  incurred,  it  is  yet  true 

4—4 


94  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

that  the  keenest  zest  in  sport  comes  from  its 
presence,  and  from  the  consequent  exercise 
of  the  qualities  necessary  to  overcome  it. 
The  most  thrilling  moments  of  an  American 
hunter's  life  are  those  in  which,  with  every 
sense  on  the  alert,  and  with  nerves  strung  to 
the  highest  point,  he  is  following  alone  into 
the  heart  of  its  forest  fastness  the  fresh  and 
bloody  footprints  of  an  angered  grisly  ;  and 
no  other  triumph  of  American  hunting  can 
compare  with  the  victory  to  be  thus  gained. 

These  big  bears  will  not  ordinarily  charge 
from  a  distance  of  over  a  hundred  yards ;  but 
there  are  exceptions  to  this  rule.  In  the  fall 
of  1890  my  friend  Archibald  Rogers  was  hunt- 
ing in  Wyoming,  south  of  the  Yellowstone 
Park,  and  killed  seven  bears.  One,  an  old 
he,  was  out  on  a  bare  table-land,  grubbing  for 
roots,  when  he  was  spied.  It  was  early  in  the 
afternoon,  and  the  hunters,  who  were  on  a 
high  mountain  slope,  examined  him  for  some 
time  through  their  powerful  glasses  before 
making  him  out  to  be  a  bear.  They  then 
stalked  up  to  the  edge  of  the  wood  which 
fringed  the  table-land  on  one  side,  bU  could 
get  no  nearer  than  about  three  hundred  yards, 
the  plains  being  barren  of  all  cover.  After 
waiting  for  a  couple  of  hours  Rogers  risked 
the  shot,  in  despair  of  getting  nearer,  and 
wounded  the  bear,  though  not  very  seriously. 
The  animal  made  off,  almost  broadside  to, 
and  Rogers  ran  forward  to  intercept  it.  As 
soon  as  it  saw  him  it  turned  and  rushed 
straight  for  him,  not  heeding  his  second  shot, 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  95 

and  evidently  bent  on  charging  home. 
Rogers  then  waited  until  it  was  within  twenty 
yards,  and  brained  it  with  his  third  bullet. 

In  fact  bears  differ  individually  in  courage 
and  ferocity  precisely  as  men  do,  or  as  the 
Spanish  bulls,  of  which  it  is  said  that  not  more 
than  one  in  twenty  is  fit  to  stand  the  combat  of 
the  arena.  One  grisly  can  scarcely  be  bullied 
into  resistance  ;  the  next  may  fight  to  the  end, 
against  any  odds,  without  flinching,  or  even  at- 
tack unprovoked.  Hence  men  of  limited  ex- 
perience in  this  sport,  generalizing  from  the 
actions  of  the  two  or  three  bears  each  has 
happened  to  see  or  kill,  often  reach  diametri- 
cally opposite  conclusions  as  to  the  fighting 
temper  and  capacity  of  the  quarry.  Even  old 
hunters — who  indeed,  as  a  class,  are  very  nar- 
row-minded and  opinionated — often  genera- 
lize just  as  rashly  as  beginners.  One  will 
portray  all  bears  as  very  dangerous ;  another 
will  speak  and  act  as  if  he  deemed  them  of  no 
more  consequence  than  so  many  rabbits.  I 
knew  one  old  hunter  who  had  killed  a  score 
without  ever  seeing  one  show  fight.  On  the 
other  hand,  Dr.  James  C.  Merrill,  U.  S.  A., 
who  has  had  about  as  much  experience  with 
bears  as  I  have  had,  informs  me  that  he  has 
been  charged  with  the  utmost  determination 
three  times.  In  each  case  the  attack  was  de- 
livered before  the  bear  was  wounded  or  even 
shot  at,  the  animal  being  roused  by  the  ap- 
proach of  the  hunters  from  his  day  bed,  and 
charging  headlong  at  them  from  a  distance  of 
twenty  or  thirty  paces.  All  three  bears  were 


96  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

killed  before  they  could  do  any  damage. 
There  was  a  very  remarkable  incident  con- 
nected with  the  killing  of  one  of  them.  It 
occurred  in  the  northern  spurs  of  the  Bighorn 
range.  Dr.  Merrill,  in  company  with  an  old 
hunter,  had  climbed  down  into  a  deep,  nar- 
row canyon.  The  bottom  was  threaded  with 
well-beaten  elk  trails.  While  following  one 
of  these  the  two  men  turned  a  corner  of  the 
canyon  and  were  instantly  charged  by  an  old 
she-grisly,  so  close  that  it  was  only  by  good 
luck  that  one  of  the  hurried  shots  disabled 
her  and  caused  her  to  tumble  over  a  cut 
bank  where  she  was  easily  finished.  They 
found  that  she  had  been  lying  directly  across 
the  game  trail,  on  a  smooth  well  beaten  patch 
of  bare  earth,  which  looked  as  if  it  had  been 
dug  up,  refilled,  and  trampled  down.  Look- 
ing curiously  at  this  patch  they  saw  a  bit  of 
hide  only  partially  covered  at  one  end ;  dig- 
ging down  they  found  the  body  of  a  well  grown 
grisly  cub.  Its  skull  had  been  crushed,  and 
the  brains  licked  out,  and  there  were  signs  of 
other  injuries.  The  hunters  pondered  long 
over  this  strange  discovery,  £nd  hazarded 
many  guesses  as  to  its  meaning.  At  last  they 
decided  that  probably  the  cub  had  been  killed, 
and  its  brains  eaten  out,  either  by  some  old 
male-grisly  or  by  a  cougar,  that  the  mother 
had  returned  and  driven  away  the  murderer, 
and  that  she  had  then  buried  the  body  and 
lain  above  it,  waiting  to  wreak  her  vengeance 
on  the  first  passer-by. 

Old    Tazewell    Woody,   during  his  thirty 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY*  97 

years'  life  as  a  hunter  in  the  Rockies  and  on 
the  great  plains,  killed  very  many  grislies. 
He  always  exercised  much  caution  in  dealing 
with  them  ;  and,  as  it  happened,  he  was  by 
some  suitable  tree  in  almost  every  case  when 
he  was  charged.  He  would  accordingly  climb 
the  tree  (a  practice  of  which  I  do  not  approve 
however)  ;  and  the  bear  would  look  up  at  him 
and  pass  on  without  stopping.  Once,  when 
he  was  hunting  in  the  mountains  with  a  com- 
panion, the  latter,  who  was  down  in  a  valley, 
while  Woody  was  on  the  hill-side,  shot  at  a 
bear.  The  first  thing  Woody  knew  the 
wounded  grisly,  running  up-hill,  was  almost 
on  him  from  behind.  As  he  turned  it  seized 
his  rifle  in  its  jaws.  He  wrenched  the  rifle 
round,  while  the  bear  still  gripped  it,  and 
pulled  trigger,  sending  a  bullet  into  its  shoul- 
der ;  whereupon  it  struck  him  with  its  paw, 
and  knocked  him  over  the  rocks.  By  good 
luck  he  fell  in  a  snow  bank  and  was  not  hurt 
in  the  least.  Meanwhile  the  bear  went  on 
and  they  never  got  it. 

Once  he  had  an  experience  with  a  bear 
which  showed  a  very  curious  mixture  of  rash- 
ness and  cowardice.  He  and  a  companion 
were  camped  in  a  little  tepee  or  wigwam,  with 
a  bright  fire  in  front  of  it,  lighting  up  the 
night.  There  was  an  inch  of  snow  on  the 
ground.  Just  after  they  went  to  bed  a  grisly 
came  close  to  camp.  Their  dog  rushed  out 
and  they  could  hear  it  bark  round  in  the  dark- 
ness for  nearly  an  hour ;  then  the  bear  drove 
it  off  and  came  right  into  camp.  It  went 

7 


98  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

close  to  the  fire,  picking  up  the  scraps  of  meat 
and  bread,  pulled  a  haunch  of  venison  down 
from  a  tree,  and  passed  and  repassed  in  front 
of  the  tepee,  paying  no  heed  whatever  to  the 
two  men,  who  crouched  in  the  doorway  talk- 
ing to  one  another.  Once  it  passed  so  close 
that  Woody  could  almost  have  touched  it. 
Finally  his  companion  fired  into  it,  and  off 
it  ran,  badly  wounded,  without  an  attempt  at 
retaliation.  Next  morning  they  followed  its 
tracks  in  the  snow,  and  found  it  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  away.  It  was  near  a  pine  and  had 
buried  itself  under  the  loose  earth,  pine 
needles,  and  snow ;  Woody's  companion  al- 
most walked  over  it,  and  putting  his  rifle  to 
its  ear  blew  out  its  brains. 

In  all  his  experience  Woody  had  personally 
seen  but  four  men  who  were  badly  mauled  by 
bears.  Three  of  these  were  merely  wounded. 
One  was  bitten  terribly  in  the  back.  Another 
had  an  arm  partially  chewed  off.  The  third 
was  a  man  named  George  Dow,  and  the  acci- 
dent happened  to  him  on  the  Yellowstone, 
about  the  year  1878.  He  was  with  a  pack 
animal  at  the  time,  leading  it  on  a  trail  through 
a  wood.  Seeing  a  big  she-bear  with  cubs  he 
yelled  at  her  ;  whereat  she  ran  away,  but  only 
to  cache  her  cubs,  and  in  a  minute,  having 
hidden  them,  came  racing  back  at  him.  His 
pack  animal  being  slow  he  started  to  climb  a 
tree ;  but  before  he  could  get  far  enough  up 
she  caught  him,  almost  biting  a  piece  out  of 
the  calf  of  his  leg,  pulled  him  down,  bit  and 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  99 

cuffed  him  two  or  three  times,  and  then  went 
on  her  way. 

The  only  time  Woody  ever  saw  a  man  killed 
by  a  bear  was  once  when  he  had  given  a  touch 
of  variety  to  his  life  by  shipping  on  a  New 
Bedford  whaler  which  had  touched  at  one  of 
the  Puget  Sound  ports.  The  whaler  went  up 
to  a  part  of  Alaska  where  bears  were  very 
plentiful  and  bold.  One  day  a  couple  of 
boats'  crews  landed ;  and  the  men,  who  were 
armed  only  with  an  occasional  harppon  or 
lance,  scattered  over  the  beach,  one  of  them, 
a  Frenchman,  wading  into  the  water  after 
shell-fish.  Suddenly  a  bear  emerged  from 
some  bushes  and  charged  among  the  aston- 
ished sailors,  who  scattered  in  every  direction ; 
but  the  bear,  said  Woody,  "  just  had  it  in  for 
that  Frenchman,"  and  went  straight  at  him. 
Shrieking  with  terror  he  retreated  up  to  his 
neck  in  the  water ;  but  the  bear  plunged  in 
after  him,  caught  him,  and  disembowelled  him. 
One  of  the  Yankee  mates  then  fired  a  bomb 
lance  into  the  bear's  hips,  and  the  savage 
beast  hobbled  off  into  the  dense  cover  of  the 
low  scrub,  where  the  enraged  sailor  folk  were 
unable  to  get  at  it. 

The  truth  is  that  while  the  grisly  generally 
avoids  a  battle  if  possible,  and  often  acts  with 
great  cowardice,  it  is  never  safe  to  take  liberties 
with  him  ;  he  usually  fights  desperately  and 
dies  hard  when  wounded  and  cornered,  and 
exceptional  individuals  take  the  aggressive  on 
small  provocation. 

During  the  years  I  lived  on  the  frontier  I 


100  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

came  in  contact  with  many  persons  who  had 
been  severely  mauled  or  even  crippled  for  life 
by  grislies;  and  a  number  of  cases  where 
they  killed  men  outright  were  also  brought 
under  my  ken.  Generally  these  accidents,  as 
was  natural,  occurred  to  hunters  who  had 
roused  or  wounded  the  game. 

A  fighting  bear  sometimes  uses  his  claws 
and  sometimes  his  teeth.  I  have  never  known 
one  to  attempt  to  kill  an  antagonist  by  hug- 
ging, in  spite  of  the  popular  belief  to  this 
effect;  though  he  will  sometimes  draw  an 
enemy  towards  him  with  his  paws  the  better 
to  reach  him  with  his  teeth,  and  to  hold  him 
so  that  he  cannot  escape  from  the  biting. 
Nor  does  the  bear  often  advance  on  his  hind 
legs  to  the  attack ;  though,  if  the  man  has 
come  close  to  him  in  thick  underbrush,  or  has 
stumbled  on  him  in  his  lair  unawares,  he  will 
often  rise  up  in  this  fashion  and  strike  a  single 
blow.  He  will  also  rise  in  clinching  with  a 
man  on  horseback.  In  1882  a  mounted  In- 
dian was  killed  in  this  manner  on  one  of  the 
river  bottoms  some  miles  below  where  my 
ranch  house  now  stands,  not  far  from  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Beaver  and  Little  Missouri.  The 
bear  had  been  hunted  into  a  thicket  by  a  band 
of  Indians,  in  whose  company  my  informant, 
a  white  squaw-man,  with  whom  I  afterward 
did  some  trading,  was  travelling.  One  of 
them  in  the  excitement  of  the  pursuit  rode 
across  the  end  of  the  thicket ;  as  he  did  so  the 
great  beast  sprang  at  him  with  wonderful 
quickness,  rising  on  its  hind  legs,  and  knock- 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  101  - 

ing  over  the  horse  and  rider  with  a  single 
sweep  of  its  terrible  fore-paws.  It  then  turned 
on  the  fallen  man  and  tore  him  open,  and 
though  the  other  Indians  came  promptly  to 
his  rescue  and  slew  his  assailant,  they  were 
not  in  time  to  save  their  comrade's  life. 

A  bear  is  apt  to  rely  mainly  on  his  teeth  or 
claws  according  to  whether  his  efforts  are 
directed  primarily  to  killing  his  foe  or  to  mak- 
ing good  his  own  escape.  In  the  latter  event 
he  trusts  chiefly  to  his  claws.  If  cornered,  he 
of  course  makes  a  rush  for  freedom,  and  in  that 
case  he  downs  any  man  who  is  in  his  way 
with  a  sweep  of  his  great  paw,  but  passes  on 
without  stopping  to  bite  him.  If  while  sleep- 
ing  or  resting  in  thick  brush  some  one  suddenly 
stumbles  on  him  close  up  he  pursues  the  same 
course,  less  from  anger  than  from  fear,  being 
surprised  and  startled.  Moreover,  if  attacked 
at  close  quarters  by  men  and  dogs  he  strikes 
right  and  left  in  defence. 

Sometimes  what  is  called  a  charge  is  rather 
an  effort  to  get  away.  In  localities  where  he 
has  been  hunted,  a  bear,  like  every  other  kind 
of  game,  is  always  on  the  look-out  for  an  at- 
tack, and  is  prepared  at  any  moment  for  im- 
mediate flight.  He  seems  ever  to  have  in  his 
mind,  whether  feeding,  sunning  himself,  or 
merely  roaming  around,  the  direction — usually 
towards  the  thickest  cover  or  most  broken 
ground — in  which  he  intends  to  run  if  molested. 
When  shot  at  he  instantly  starts  towards  this 
place ;  or  he  may  be  so  confused  that  he  simply 
runs  he  knows  not  whither;  and  in  either 

4— 4» 


102  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

event  he  may  take  a  line  that  leads  almost 
directly  to  or  by  the  hunter,  although  he  had 
at  first  no  thought  of  charging.  In  such  a  case 
he  usually  strikes  a  single  knock-down  blow 
and  gallops  on  without  halting,  though  that 
one  blow  may  have  taken  life.  If  the  claws 
are  long  and  fairly  sharp  (as  in  early  spring, 
or  even  in  the  fall,  if  the  animal  has  been  work- 
ing over  soft  ground)  they  add  immensely  to 
the  effect  of  the  blow,  for  they  cut  like  blunt 
axes.  Often,  however,  late  in  the  season,  and 
if  the  ground  has  been  dry  and  hard,  or  rocky, 
the  claws  are  worn  down  nearly  to  the  quick, 
and  the  blow  is  then  given  mainly  with  the 
under  side  of  the  paw ;  although  even  under 
this  disadvantage  a  thump  from  a  big  bear 
will  down  a  horse  or  smash  in  a  man's  breast. 
The  hunter  Hofer  once  lost  a  horse  in  this 
manner.  He  shot  at  and  wounded  a  bear 
which  rushed  off,  as  ill  luck  would  have  it, 
past  the  place  where  his  horse  was  picketed ; 
probably  more  in  fright  than  in  anger  it  struck 
the  poor  beast  a  blow  which,  in  the  end,  proved 
mortal. 

If  a  bear  means  mischief  and  charges  not  to 
escape  but  to  do  damage,  its  aim  is  to  grapple 
with  or  throw  down  its  foe  and  bite  him  to 
death.  The  charge  is  made  at  a  gallop,  the 
animal  sometimes  coming  on  silently,  with  the 
mouth  shut,  and  sometimes  with  the  jaws  open, 
the  lips  drawn  back  and  teeth  showing,  utter- 
ing at  the  same  time  a  succession  of  roars  or 
of  savage  rasping  snarls.  Certain  bears  charge 
without  any  bluster  and  perfectly  straight; 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  103 

while  others  first  threaten  and  bully,  and  even 
when  charging  stop  to  growl,  shake  the  head, 
and  bite  at  a  bush  or  knock  holes  in  the 
ground  with  their  fore-paws.  Again,  some  of 
them  charge  home  with  a  ferocious  resolution 
which  their  extreme  tenacity  of  life  renders 
especially  dangerous  ;  while  others  can  be 
turned  or  driven  back  even  by  a  shot  which  is 
not  mortal.  They  show  the  same  variability 
in  their  behavior  when  wounded.  Often  a  big 
bear,  especially  if  charging,  will  receive  a  bul- 
let in  perfect  silence,  without  flinching  or  seem- 
ing to  pay  any  heed  to  it ;  while  another  will 
cry  out  and  tumble  about,  and  if  charging, 
even  though  it  may  not  abandon  the  attack, 
will  pause  for  a  moment  to  whine  or  bite  at 
the  wound. 

Sometimes  a  single  bite  causes  death.  One 
of  the  most  successful  bear  hunters  I  ever 
knew,  an  old  fellow  whose  real  name  I  never 
heard  as  he  was  always  called  Old  Ike,  was 
killed  in  this  way  in  the  spring  or  early  sum- 
mer of  1886  on  one  of  the  head-waters  of  the 
Salmon.  He  was  a  very  good  shot,  had  killed 
nearly  a  hundred  bears  with  the  rifle,  and,  al- 
though often  charged,  had  never  met  with  any 
accident,  so  that  he  had  grown  somewhat  care- 
less. On  the  day  in  question  he  had  met  a 
couple  of  mining  prospectors  and  was  travelling 
with  them,  when  a  grisly  crossed  his  path.  The 
old  hunter  immediately  ran  after  it,  rapidly  gain- 
ing,  as  the  bear  did  not  hurry  when  it  saw  itself 
pursued,  but  slouched  slowly  forwards,  occas- 
ionally turning  its  head  to  grin  and  growl.  £ 


104  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

soon  went  into  a  dense  grove  of  young  spruce, 
and  as  the  hunter  reached  the  edge  it  charged 
fiercely  out.  He  fired  one  hasty  shot,  evi- 
dently wounding  the  animal,  but  not  seriously 
enough  to  stop  or  cripple  it ;  and  as  his  two 
companions  ran  forward  they  saw  the  bear 
seize  him  with  its  wide-spread  jaws,  forcing 
him  to  the  ground.  They  shouted  and  fired, 
and  the  beast  abandoned  the  fallen  man  on  the 
instant  and  sullenly  retreated  into  the  spruce 
thicket,  whither  they  dared  not  follow  it. 
Their  friend  was  at  his  last  gasp;  for  the 
whole  side  of  the  chest  had  been  crushed  in 
by  the  one  bite,  the  lungs  showing  between 
the  rent  ribs. 

Very  often,  however,  a  bear  does  not  kill  a 
man  by  one  bite,  but  after  throwing  him  lies  on 
him,  biting  him  to  death.  Usually,  if  no  assis- 
tance is  at  hand,  such  a  man  is  doomed ;  al- 
though if  he  pretends  to  be  dead,  and  has  the 
nerve  to  lie  quiet  under  very  rough  treatment, 
it  is  just  possible  that  the  bear  may  leave  him 
alive,perhaps  after  half  burying  what  it  believes 
to  be  the  body.  In  a  very  few  exceptional  in- 
stances men  of  extraordinary  prowess  with  the 
knife  have  succeeded  in  beating  off  a  bear,  and 
even  in  mortally  wounding  it,  but  in  most  cases 
a  single-handed  struggle,  at  close  quarters, 
with  a  grisly  bent  on  mischief,  means  death. 

Occasionally  the  bear,  although  vicious,  is 
also  frightened,  and  passes  on  after  giving  one 
or  two  bites ;  and  frequently  a  man  who  is 
knocked  down  is  rescued  by  his  friends  before 
he  is  killed,  the  big  beast  mayhap  using  his 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  105 

weapons  with  clumsiness.  So  a  bear  may  kill 
a  foe  with  a  single  blow  of  its  mighty  fore-arm, 
either  crushing  in  the  head  or  chest  by  sheer 
force  of  sinew,  or  else  tearing  open  the  body 
with  its  formidable  claws  ;  and  so  on  the  other 
hand  he  may,  and  often  does,  merely  disfigure 
or  maim  the  foe  by  a  hurried  stroke.  Hence 
it  is  common  to  see  men  who  have  escaped 
the  clutches  of  a  grisly,  but  only  at  the  cost  of 
features  marred  beyond  recognition,  or  a  body 
rendered  almost  helpless  for  life.  Almost 
every  old  resident  of  western  Montana  or 
northern  Idaho  has  known  two  or  three  unfor- 
tunates who  have  suffered  in  this  manner.  I 
have  myself  met  one  such  man  in  Helena,  and 
another  in  Missoula  ;  both  were  living  at  least 
as  late  as  1889,  the  date  at  which  I  last  saw 
them.  One  had  been  partially  scalped  by  a 
bear's  teeth ;  the  animal  was  very  old  and  so 
the  fangs  did  not  enter  the  skull.  The  other 
had  been  bitten  across  the  face,  and  the  wounds 
never  entirely  healed,  so  that  his  disfigured 
visage  was  hideous  to  behold. 

Most  of  these  accidents  occur  in  following 
a  wounded  or  worried  bear  into  thick  cover ; 
and  under  such  circumstances  an  animal  ap- 
parently hopelessly  disabled,  or  in  the  death 
throes,  may  with  a  last  effort  kill  one  or  more 
of  its  assailants.  In  1874  my  wife's  uncle,. 
Captain  Alexander  Moore,  U.  S.  A.,  and  my 
friend  Captain  Bates,  with  some  men  of  the 
2d  and  3^  Cavalry,  were  scouting  in  Wyom- 
ing, near  the  Freezeout  Mountains.  One 
morning  they  roused  a  bear  in  the  open  prairie 


106  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

and  followed  it  at  full  speed  as  it  ran  towards  a 
small  creek.  At  one  spot  in  the  creek  beavers 
had  built  a  dam,  and  as  usual  in  such  places 
there  was  a  thick  growth  of  bushes  and  willow 
saplings.  Just  as  the  bear  reached  the  edge  of 
this  little  jungle  it  was  struck  by  several  balls, 
both  of  its  forelegs  being  broken.  Neverthe- 
less, it  managed  to  shove  itself  forward  on  its 
hind-legs,  and  partly  rolled,  partly  pushed  itself 
into  the  thicket,  the  bushes  though  low  being 
so  dense  that  its  body  was  at  once  completely 
hidden.  The  thicket  was  a  mere  patch  of 
brush,  not  twenty  yards  across  in  any  direction. 
The  leading  troopers  reached  the  edge  almost 
as  the  bear  tumbled  in.  One  of  them,  a  tall 
and  powerful  man  named  Miller,  instantly 
dismounted  and  prepared  to  force  his  way  in 
among  the  dwarfed  willows,  which  were  but 
breast-high.  Among  the  men  who  had  ridden 
up  were  Moore  and  Bates,  and  also  the  two 
famous  scouts,  Buffalo  Bill — long  a  companion 
of  Captain  Moore, — and  California  Joe,  Cus- 
ter's  faithful  follower.  California  Joe  had 
spent  almost  all  his  life  on  the  plains  and  in 
the  mountains,  as  a  hunter  and  Indian  fighter  ; 
and  when  he  saw  the  trooper  about  to  rush 
into  the  thicket  he  called  out  to  him  not  to  do 
so,  warning  him  of  the  danger.  But  the  man 
was  a  very  reckless  fellow  and  he  answered  by 
jeering  at  the  old  hunter  for  his  over-caution 
in  being  afraid  of  a  crippled  bear.  California 
Joe  made  no  further  effort  to  dissuade  him,  re- 
marking quietly :  "  Very  well,  sonny,  go  in  ; 
it's  your  own  affair."  Miller  then  leaped  off 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  107 

the  bank  on  which  they  stood  and  strode  into 
the  thicket,  holding  his  rifle  at  the  port. 
Hardly  had  he  taken  three  steps  when  the 
bear  rose  in  front  of  him,  roaring  with  rage 
and  pain.  It  was  so  close  that  the  man  had 
no  chance  to  fire.  Its  fore-arms  hung  useless 
and  as  it  reared  unsteadily  on  its  hind-legs, 
lunging  forward  at  him,  he  seized  it  by  the 
ears  and  strove  to  hold  it  back.  His  strength 
was  very  great,  and  he  actually  kept  the  huge 
head  from  his  face  and  braced  himself  so  that 
he  was  not  overthrown ;  but  the  bear  twisted 
its  muzzle  from  side  to  side,  biting  and  tear- 
ing the  man's  arms  and  shoulders.  Another 
soldier  jumping  down  slew  the  beast  with  a 
single  bullet,  and  rescued  his  comrade  ;  but 
though  alive  he  was  too  badly  hurt  to  recover 
and  died  after  reaching  the  hospital.  Buffalo 
Bill  was  given  the  bear-skin,  and  I  believe  has 
it  now. 

The  instances  in  which  hunters  who  have 
rashly  followed  grislies  into  thick  cover  have 
been  killed  or  severely  mauled  might  be  multi- 
plied indefinitely.  I  have  myself  known  of 
eight  cases  in  which  men  have  met  their  deaths 
in  this  manner. 

It  occasionally  happens  that  a  cunning  old 
grisly  will  lie  so  close  that  the  hunter  almost 
steps  on  him ;  and  he  then  rises  suddenly  with 
a  loud,  coughing  growl  and  strikes  down  or 
seizes  the  man  before  the  latter  can  fire  off 
his  rifle.  More  rarely  a  bear  which  is  both 
vicious  and  crafty  deliberately  permits  the 
hunter  to  approach  fairly  near  to,  or  perhaps 


io8  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

pass  by,  its  hiding-place,  and  then  suddenly 
charges  him  with  such  rapidity  that  he  has 
barely  time  for  the  most  hurried  shot.  The 
danger  in  such  a  case  is  of  course  great. 

Ordinarily,  however,  even  in  the  brush,  the 
bear's  object  is  to  slink  away,  not  to  fight,  and 
very  many  are  killed  even  under  the  most  unfav- 
orable circumstances  without  accident.  If  an 
unwounded  bear  thinks  itselt  unobserved  it  is 
not  apt  to  attack ;  and  in  thick  cover  it  is 
really  astonishing  to  see  how  one  of  these 
large  animals  can  hide,  and  how  closely  it  will 
lie  when  there  is  danger.  About  twelve  miles 
below  my  ranch  there  are  some  large  river 
bottoms  and  creek  bottoms  covered  with  a 
matted  mass  of  cottonwood,  box-alders,  bull- 
berry  bushes,  rosebushes,  ash,  wild  plums,  and 
other  bushes.  These  bottoms  have  harbored 
bears  ever  since  I  first  saw  them  ;  but,  though 
often  in  company  with  a  large  party,  I  have 
repeatedly  beaten  through  them,  and  though 
we  must  at  times  have  been  very  near  indeed 
to  the  game,  we  never  so  much  as  heard  it 
run. 

When  bears  are  shot,  as  they  usually  must 
be,  in  open  timber  or  on  the  bare  mountain, 
the  risk  is  very  much  less.  Hundreds  may 
thus  be  killed  with  comparatively  little  danger ; 
yet  even  under  these  circumstances  they  will 
often  charge,  and  sometimes  make  their  charge 
good.  The  spice  of  danger,  especially  to  a 
man  armed  with  a  good  repeating  rifle,  is  only 
enough  to  add  zest  to  the  chase,  and  the  chief 
triumph  is  in  outwitting  the  wary  quarry  and 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  109 

getting  within  range.  Ordinarily  the  only  ex- 
citement is  in  the  stalk,  the  bear  doing  noth- 
ing more  than  keep  a  keen  look-out  and  mani- 
fest the  utmost  anxiety  to  get  away.  As  is 
but  natural,  accidents  occasionally  occur;  yet' 
they  are  usually  due  more  to  some  failure  in 
man  or  weapon  than  to  the  prowess  of  the 
bear.  A  good  hunter  whom  I  once  knew,  at 
a  time  when  he  was  living  in  Butte,  received 
fatal  injuries  from  a  bear  he  attacked  in  open 
woodland.  The  beast  charged  after  the  first 
shot,  but  slackened  its  pace  on  coming  almost 
up  to  the  man.  The  latter 's  gun  jambed,  and 
as  he  was  endeavoring  to  work  it  he  kept  step- 
ping slowly  back,  facing  the  bear  which  fol- 
lowed a  few  yards  distant,  snarling  and 
threatening.  Unfortunately  while  thus  walk- 
ing backwards  the  man  struck  a  dead  log  and 
fell  over  it,  whereupon  the  beast  instantly 
sprang  on  him  and  mortally  wounded  him  be- 
fore help  arrived. 

On  rare  occasions  men  who  are  not  at  the 
time  hunting  it  fall  victims  to  the  grisly. 
This  is  usually  because  they  stumble  on  it  un- 
awares and  the  animal  attacks  them  more  in 
fear  than  in  anger.  One  such  case,  resulting 
fatally,  occurred  near  my  own  ranch.  The  man 
walked  almost  over  a  bear  while  crossing  a 
little  point  of  brush,  in  a  bend  of  the  river, 
and  was  brained  with  a  single  blow  of  the  paw. 
In  another  instance  which  came  to  my  knowl- 
edge the  man  escaped  with  a  shaking  up,  and 
without  even  a  fright.  His  name  was  Perkins, 
and  he  was  out  gathering  huckleberries  in  the 


HO  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

woods  on  a  mountain  side  near  Pend'Oreille 
Lake.  Suddenly  he  was  sent  flying  head  over 
heels,  by  a  blow  which  completely  knocked 
the  breath  out  of  his  body ;  and  so  instantan- 
eous was  the  whole  affair  that  all  he  could  ever 
recollect  about  it  was  getting  a  vague  glfmpse 
of  the  bear  just  as  he  was  bowled  over.  When 
he  came  to  he  found  himself  lying  some  dis- 
tance down  the  hill-side,  much  shaken,  and 
without  his  berry  pail,  which  had  rolled  a 
hundred  yards  below  him,  but  not  otherwise 
the  worse  for  his  misadventure  ;  while  the  foot- 
prints showed  that  the  bear,  after  delivering 
the  single  hurried  stroke  at  the  unwitting  dis- 
turber of  its  day-dreams,  had  run  off  up-hill 
as  fast  as  it  was  able. 

A  she-bear  with  cubs  is  a  proverbially  dan- 
gerous beast ;  yet  even  under  such  conditions 
different  grislies  act  in  directly  opposite  ways. 
Some  she-grislies,  when  their  cubs  are  young, 
but  are  able  to  follow  them  about,  seem  al- 
ways worked  up  to  the  highest  pitch  of  anxious 
and  jealous  rage,  so  that  they  are  likely  to  at- 
tack unprovoked  any  intruder  or  even  passer- 
by. Others  when  threatened  by  the  hunter 
leave  their  cubs  to  their  fate  without  a  visible 
qualm  of  any  kind,  and  seem  to  think  only  of 
their  own  safety. 

In  1882  Mr.  Caspar  W.  Whitney,  now  of 
New  York,  met  with  a  very  singular  adventure 
with  a  she-bear  and  cub.  He  was  in  Harvard 
when  I  was,  but  left  it  and,  like  a  good  many 
other  Harvard  men  of  that  time,  took  to  cow- 
punching  in  the  West.  He  went  on  a  ranch 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  TIT 

in  Rio  Arriba  County,  New  Mexico,  and  was 
a  keen  hunter,  especially  fond  of  the  chase  of 
cougar,  bear,  and  elk.  One  day  while  riding 
a  stony  mountain  trail  he  saw  a  little  grisly 
cub  watching  him  from  the  chaparral  above, 
and  he  dismounted  to  try  to  capture  it ;  his 
rifle  was  a  40-90  Sharp's.  Just  as  he  neared 
the  cub,  he  heard  a  growl  and  caught  a  glimpse 
of  the  old  she,  and  he  at  once  turned  up-hill, 
and  stood  under  some  tall,  quaking  aspens. 
From  this  spot  he  fired  at  and  wounded  the 
she,  then  seventy  yards  off ;  and  she  charged 
furiously.  He  hit  her  again,  but  as  she  kept 
coming  like  a  thunderbolt  he  climbed  hastily 
up  the  aspen,  dragging  his  gun  with  him,  as  it 
had  a  strap.  When  the  bear  reached  the  foot 
of  the  aspen  she  reared,  and  bit  and  clawed 
the  slender  trunk,  shaking  it  for  a  moment, 
and  he  shot  her  through  the  eye.  Off  she 
sprang  for  a  few  yards,  and  then  spun  round 
a  dozen  times,  as  if  dazed  or  partially 
stunned  ;  for  the  bullet  had  not  touched  the 
brain.  Then  the  vindictive  and  resolute  beast 
came  back  to  the  tree  and  again  reared  up 
against  it ;  this  time  to  receive  a  bullet  that 
dropped  her  lifeless.  Mr.  Whitney  then 
climbed  down  and  walked  to  where  the  cub 
had  been  sitting  as  a  looker-on.  The  little 
animal  did  not  move  until  he  reached  out  his 
hand ;  when  it  suddenly  struck  at  him  like  an 
angry  cat,  dove  into  the  bushes,  and  was  seen 
no  more. 

In  the  summer  of  1888  an  old-time  trapper, 
named  Charley  Norton,  while  on  Loon  Creek, 


112  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

i 

of  the  middle  fork  of  the  Salmon,  meddled 
with  a  she  and  her  cubs.  She  ran  at  him  and 
with  one  blow  of  her  paw  almost  knocked  off 
his  lower  jaw  ;  yet  he  recovered,  and  was  alive 
when  I  last  heard  of  him. 

Yet  the  very  next  spring  the  cowboys  with 
my  own  wagon  on  the  Little  Missouri  round- 
up killed  a  mother  bear  which  made  but  little 
more  fight  than  a  coyote.  She  had  two  cubs, 
and  was  surprised  in  the  early  morning  on  the 
prairie  far  from  cover.  There  were  eight  or 
ten  cowboys  together  at  the  time,  just  starting 
off  on  a  long  circle,  and  of  course  they  all  got 
down  their  ropes  in  a  second,  and  putting 
spurs  to  their  fiery  little  horses  started  toward 
the  bears  at  a  run,  shouting  and  swinging 
their  loops  round  their  heads.  For  a  moment 
the  old  she  tried  to  bluster  and  made  a  half- 
hearted threat  of  charging ;  but  her  courage 
failed  before  the  rapid  onslaught  of  her  yell- 
ing, rope-swinging  assailants ;  and  she  took 
to  her  heels  and  galloped  off,  leaving  the  cubs 
to  shift  for  themselves.  The  cowboys  were 
close  behind,  however,  and  after  half  a  mile's 
run  she  bolted  into  a  shallow  cave  or  hole  in 
the  side  of  a  butte,  where  she  stayed  cowering 
and  growling,  until  one  of  the  men  leaped  off 
his  horse,  ran  up  to  the  edge  of  the  hole,  and 
killed  her  with  a  single  bullet  from  his  revolver, 
fired  so  close  that  the  powder  burned  her  hair. 
The  unfortunate  cubs  were  roped,  and  then  so 
dragged  about  that  they  were  speedily  killed 
instead  of  being  brought  alive  to  camp,  as 
ought  to  have  been  done. 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  113 

In  the  cases  mentioned  above  the  grisly  at* 
tacked  only  after  having  been  itself  assailed, 
or  because  it  feared  an  assault,  for  itself  or 
for  its  young.  In  the  old  days,  however,  it 
may  almost  be  said  that  a  grisly  was  more  apt 
to  attack  than  to  flee.  Lewis  and  Clarke  and 
the  early  explorers  who  immediately  succeeded 
them,  as  well  as  the  first  hunters  and  trappers, 
the  "  Rocky  Mountain  men "  of  the  early 
decades  of  the  present  century,  were  repeat* 
edly  assailed  in  this  manner ;  and  not  a  few 
of  the  bear  hunters  of  that  period  found  that 
it  was  unnecessary  to  take  much  trouble  about 
approaching  their  quarry,  as  the  grisly  was 
usually  prompt  to  accept  the  challenge  and  to 
advance  of  its  own  accord,  as  soon  as  it  discov- 
ered the  foe.  All  this  is  changed  now.  Yet 
even  at  the  present  day  an  occasional  vicious  old 
bear  may  be  found,  in  some  far-off  and  little-trod 
fastness,  which  still  keeps  up  the  former  habit 
of  its  kind.  All  old  hunters  have  tales  of  this 
sort  to  relate,  the  prowess,  cunning,  strength, 
and  ferocity  of  the  grisly  being  favorite  topics 
for  camp-fire  talk  throughout  the  Rockies  ; 
but  in  most  cases  it  is  not  safe  to  accept  these 
stories  without  careful  sifting. 

Still,  it  is  just  as  unsafe  to  reject  them  all. 
One  of  my  own  cowboys  was  once  attacked  by 
a  grisly,  seemingly  in  pure  wantonness.  He 
was  riding  up  a  creek  bottom,  and  had  just 
passed  a  clump  of  rose  and  bullberry  bushes 
when  his  horse  gave  such  a  leap  as  almost  to  un- 
seat him,  and  then  darted  madly  forward. 
Turning  round  in  the  saddle  to  his  utter  aston- 
8 


114  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

ishment  he  saw  a  large  bear  galloping  after  him, 
at  the  horse's  heels.  For  a  few  jumps  the 
race  was  close,  then  the  horse  drew  away  and 
the  bear  wheeled  and  went  into  a  thicket  of 
wild  plums.  The  amazed  and  indignant  cow- 
boy, as  soon  as  he  could  rein  in  his  steed,  drew 
his  revolver  and  rode  back  to  and  around  the 
thicket,  endeavoring  to  provoke  his  late  pur- 
suer to  come  out  and  try  conclusions  on  more 
equal  terms ;  but  prudent  Ephraim  had  ap- 
parently repented  of  his  freak  of  ferocious 
bravado,  arid  declined  to  leave  the  secure 
shelter  of  the  jungle. 

Other  attacks  are  of  a  much  more  explicable 
nature.  Mr.  Huffman,  the  photographer  of 
Miles  City,  informed  me  that  once  when  butch- 
ering some  slaughtered  elk  he  was  charged 
twice  by  a  she-bear  and  two  well-grown  cubs. 
This  was  a  piece  of  sheer  bullying,  undertaken 
solely  with  the  purpose  of  driving  away  the 
man  and  feasting  on  the  carcasses  ;  for  in  each 
charge  the  three  bears,  after  advancing  with 
much  blustering,  roaring,  and  growling,  halted 
just  before  coming  to  close  quarters.  In  an- 
other instance  a  gentleman  I  once  knew,  a 
Mr.  S.  Carr,  was  charged  by  a  grisly  from 
mere  ill  temper  at  being  disturbed  at  meal- 
time. The  man  was  riding  up  a  valley ;  and 
the  bear  was  at  an  elk  carcass,  near  a  clump 
of  firs.  As  soon  as  it  became  aware  of  the 
approach  of  the  horseman,  while  he  was  yet 
over  a  hundred  yards  distant,  it  jumped  on 
the  carcass,  looked  at  him  a  moment,  and  then 
ran  straight  for  him.  There  was  no  particular 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  115 

reason  why  it  should  have  charged,  for  it  was 
fat  and  in  good  trim,  though  when  killed  its 
head  showed  scars  made  by  the  teeth  of  rival 
grislies.  Apparently  it  had  been  living  so  well, 
principally  on  flesh,  that  it  had  become 
quarrelsome ;  and  perhaps  its  not  over  sweet 
disposition  had  been  soured  by  combats  with 
others  of  its  own  kind.  In  yet  another  case, 
a  grisly  charged  with  even  less  excuse.  An 
old  trapper,  from  whom  I  occasionally  bought 
fur,  was  toiling  up  a  mountain  pass  when  he 
spied  a  big  bear  sitting  on  his  haunches  on 
the  hill-side  above.  The  trapper  shouted  and 
waved  his  cap ;  whereupon,  to  his  amazement, 
the  bear  uttered  a  loud  "  wough  "  and  charged 
straight  down  on  him — only  to  fall  a  victim 
to  misplaced  boldness. 

I  am  even  inclined  to  think  that  there  have 
been  wholly  exceptional  occasions  when  a 
grisly  has  attacked  a  man  with  the  deliberate 
purpose  of  making  a  meal  of  him ;  when,  in 
other  words,  it  has  started  on  the  career  of  a 
man-eater.  At  least,  on  any  other  theory  I 
find  it  difficult  to  account  for  an  attack  which 
once  came  to  my  knowledge.  I  was  at  Sand 
Point,  on  Pend'  Oreille  Lake,  and  met  some 
French  and  Meti  trappers,  then  in  town  with 
their  bales  of  beaver,  otte  ,  and  sable.  One 
of  them,  who  gave  his  name  as  Japtiste  La- 
moche,  had  his  head  twisted  over  to  one  side, 
the  result  of  the  bite  of  a  bear.  When  the 
accident  occurred  he  was  out  on  a  trapping 
trip  with  two  companions.  They  had  pitched 
camp  right  on  the  shore  of  a  cove  in  a  little 


Tt6  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

lake,  and  his  comrades  were  off  fishing  in  a 
dugout  or  pirogue.  He  himself  was  sitting 
near  the  shore,  by  a  little  lean-to,  watching  some 
beaver  meat  which  was  sizzling  over  the  dying 
embers.  Suddenly,  and  without  warning,  a 
great  bear,  which  had  crept  silently  up  beneath 
the  shadows  of  the  tall  evergreens,  rushed  at 
him,  with  a  guttural  roar,  and  seized  him  be- 
fore he  could  rise  to  his  feet.  It  grasped  him 
with  its  jaws  at  the  junction  of  the  neck  and 
shoulder,  making  the  teeth  meet  through  bone, 
sinew,  and  muscle ;  and  turning,  tracked  off 
towards  the  forest,  dragging  with  it  the  helpless 
and  paralyzed  victim.  Luckily  the  two  men  in 
the  canoe  had  just  paddled  round  the  point,  in 
sight  of,  and  close  to,  camp.  The  man  in  the 
bow,  seeing  the  plight  of  their  comrade,  seized 
his  rifle  and  fired  at  tne  bear.  The  bullet 
went  through  the  beast's  lungs,  and  it  forth- 
with dropped  its  prey,  and  running  off  some  two 
hundred  yards,  lay  down  on  its  side  and  died. 
The  rescued  man  recovered  full  health  and 
strength,  but  never  again  carried  his  head 
straight. 

Old  hunters  and  mountain-men  tell  many 
stories,  not  only  of  malicious  grislies  thus  at- 
tacking men  in  camp,  but  also  of  their  even 
dogging  the  footsteps  of  some  solitary  hunter 
and  killing  him  when  the  favorable  opportun- 
ity occurs.  Most  of  these  tales  are  mere 
fables  ;  but  it  is  possible  that  in  altogether  ex- 
ceptional instances  they  rest  on  a  foundation 
of  fact.  One  old  hunter  whom  I  knew  told  me 
such  a  story.  He  was  a  truthful  old  fellow, 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  117 

and  there  was  no  doubt  that  he  believed  what 
he  said,  and  that  his  companion  was  actually 
killed  by  a  bear ;  but  it  is  probable  that  he  was 
mistaken  in  reading  the  signs  of  his  comrade's 
fate,  and  that  the  latter  was  not  dogged  by 
the  bear  at  all,  but  stumbled  on  him  and  was 
slain  in  the  surprise  of  the  moment. 

At  any  rate,  cases  of  wanton  assaults  by 
grislies  are  altogether  out  of  the  common. 
The  ordinary  hunter  may  live  out  his  whole 
life  in  the  wilderness  and  never  know  aught  of 
a  bear  attacking  a  man  unprovoked ;  and  the 
great  majority  qf  bears  are  shot  under  cir- 
cumstances of  no  special  excitement,  as  they 
either  make  no  fight  at  all,  or,  if  they  do  fight, 
are  killed  before  there  is  any  risk  of  their  doing 
damage.  If  surprised  on  the  plains,  at  some 
distance  from  timber  or  from  badly  broken 
ground,  it  is  no  uncommon  feat  for  a  single 
horseman  to  kill  them  with  a  revolver.  Twice 
of  late  years  it  has  been  performed  in  the 
neighborhood  of  my  ranch.  In  both  instances 
the  men  were  not  hunters  out  after  game,  but 
simply  cowboys,  riding  over  the  range  in  early 
morning  in  pursuance  of  their  ordinary  duties 
among  the  cattle.  I  knew  both  men  and  have 
worked  with  them  on  the  round-up.  Like 
most  cowboys  they  carried  44-calibre  Colt  re- 
volvers, and  were  accustomed  to  and  fairly 
expert  in  their  use,  and  they  were  mounted  on 
ordinary  cow-ponies — quick,  wiry,  plucky  little 
beasts.  In  one  case  the  bear  was  seen  from 
quite  a  distance,  lounging  across  a  broad 
table-land.  The  cowboy,  by  taking  advantage 


Il8  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  , 

of  a  winding  and  rather  shallow  coulie,  got 
quite  close  to  him.  He  then  scrambled  out 
of  the  coulie,  put  spurs  to  his  pony,  and  raced 
up  to  within  fifty  yards  of  the  astonished  bear 
ere  the  latter  quite  understood  what  it  was 
that  was  running  at  him  through  the  gray 
dawn.  He  made  no  attempt  at  fight,  but  ran 
at  top  speed  towards  a  clump  of  brush  not  fai 
off  at  the  head  of  a  creek.  Before  he  could 
reach  it,  however,  the  galloping  horseman 
was  alongside,  and  fired  three  shots  into  his 
broad  back.  He  did  not  turn,  but  ran  on  in- 
to the  bushes  and  then  fell  over  and  died. 

In  the  other  case  the  cowboy,  a  Texan,  was 
mounted  on  a  good  cutting  pony,  a  spirited, 
handy,  agile  little  animal,  but  excitable,  and 
with  a  habit  of  dancing,  which  rendered  it 
difficult  to  shoot  from  its  back.  The  man  was 
with  the  round-up  wagon,  and  had  been  sent 
off  by  himself  to  make  a  circle  through  some 
low,  barren  buttes,  where  it  was  not  thought 
more  than  a  few  head  of  stock  would  be  found. 
On  rounding  the  corner  of  a  small  washout  he 
almost  ran  over  a  bear  which  was  feeding  on 
the  carcass  of  a  steer  that  had  died  in  an  alkali 
hole.  After  a  moment  of  stunned  surprise 
the  bear  hurled  himself  at  the  intruder  with 
furious  impetuosity  ;  while  the  cowboy,  wheel- 
ing his  horse  on  its  haunches  and  dashing  in 
the  spurs,  carried  it  just  clear  of  his  assail- 
ant's headlong  rush.  After  a  few  springs  he 
reined  in  and  once  more  wheeled  half  round, 
having  drawn  his  revolver,  only  to  find  the 
bear  again  charging  and  almost  on  him. 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  \\$ 

'This  time  he  fired  into  it,  near  the  joining  of 
^he  neck  and  shoulder,  the  bullet  going  down- 
wards into  the  chest  hollow  ;  and  again  by  a 
quick  dash  to  one  side  he  just  avoided  the 
rush  of  the  beast  and  the  sweep  of  its  mighty 
forepaw.  The  bear  then  halted  for  a  minute, 
and  he  rode  close  by  it  at  a  run,  firing  a  couple 
of  shots,  which  brought  on  another  resolute 
charge.  The  ground  was  somewhat  rugged 
and  broken,  but  his  pony  was  as  quick  on  its 
feet  as  a  cat,  and  never  stumbled,  even  when 
going  at  full  speed  to  avoid  the  bear's  first 
mad  rushes.  It  speedily  became  so  excited, 
however,  as  to  render  it  almost  impossible  for 
the  rider  to  take  aim.  Sometimes  he  would 
come  up  close  to  the  bear  and  wait  for  it  to 
charge,  which  it  would  do,  first  at  a  trot,  or 
rather  rack,  and  then  at  a  lumbering  but 
swift  gallop  ;  and  he  would  fire  one  or  two 
shots  before  being  forced  to  run.  At  other 
times,  if  the  bear  stood  still  in  a  good  place, 
he  would  run  by  it,  firing  as  he  rode.  He 
spent  many  cartridges,  and  though  most  of 
them  were  wasted  occasionally  a  bullet  went 
home.  The  bear  fought  with  the  most  savage 
courage,  champing  its  bloody  jaws,  roaring 
with  rage,  and  looking  the  very  incarnation  of 
evil  fury.  For  some  minutes  it  made  no  effort 
to  flee,  either  charging  or  standing  at  bay. 
Then  it  began  to  move  slowly  towards  a  patch 
of  ash  and  wild  plums  in  the  head  of  a  coulie, 
some  distance  off.  Its  pursuer  rode  after  it, 
and  when  close  enough  would  push  by  it  and 
fire,  while  the  bear  would  spin  quickly  round 


120  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

and  charge  as  fiercely  as  ever,  though  evi- 
dently beginning  to  grow  weak.  At  last,  when 
still  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  from  cover  the 
man  found  he  had  used  up  all  his  cartridges, 
and  then  merely  followed  at  a  safe  distance. 
The  bear  no  longer  paid  heed  to  him,  but 
walked  slowly  forwards,  swaying  its  great  head 
from  side  to  side,  while  the  blood  streamed 
from  between  its  half-opened  jaws.  On  reach- 
ing the  cover  he  could  tell  by  the  waving  of 
the  bushes  that  it  walked  to  the  middle  and 
then  halted.  A  few  minutes  afterwards  some 
of  the  other  cowboys  rode  up,  having  been 
attracted  by  the  incessant  firing.  They  sur- 
rounded the  thicket,  firing  and  throwing  stones 
into  the  bushes.  Finally,  as  nothing  moved, 
they  ventured  in  and  found  the  indomitable 
grisly  warrior  lying  dead. 

Cowboys  delight  in  nothing  so  much  as  the 
chance  to  show  their  skill  as  riders  and  rop- 
ers ;  and  they  always  try  to  ride  down  and 
rope  any  wild  animal  they  come  across  in 
favorable  ground  and  close  enough  up.  If  a 
party  of  them  meets  a  bear  in  the  open  they 
have  great  fun  ;  and  the  struggle  between  the 
shouting,  galloping  rough-riders  and  their 
shaggy  quarry  is  full  of  wild  excitement  and 
not  unaccompanied  by  danger.  The  bear 
often  throws  the  noose  from  his  head  so  rap- 
idly that  it  is  a  difficult  matter  to  catch  him ; 
and  his  frequent  charges  scatter  his  tormentors 
in  every  direction  while  the  horses  become 
wild  with  fright  over  the  roaring,  bristling 
beast — for  horses  seem  to  dread  a  bear  more 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY.  121 

than  any  other  animal.  If  the  bear  cannot 
reach  cover,  however,  his  fate  is  sealed. 
Sooner  or  later,  the  noose  tightens  over  one 
leg,  or  perchance  over  the  neck  and  fore-paw, 
and  as  the  rope  straightens  with  a  "  pluck," 
the  horse  braces  itself  desperately  and  the 
bear  tumbles  over.  Whether  he  regains  his 
feet  or  not  the  cowboy  keeps  the  rope  taut  ; 
soon  another  noose  tightens  over  a  leg,  and 
the  bear  is  speedily  rendered  helpless. 

I  have  known  of  these  feats  being  per- 
formed several  times  in  northern  Wyoming, 
although  never  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood of  my  ranch.  Mr.  Archibald  Roger's 
cowhands  have  in  this  manner  caught  several 
bears,  on  or  near  his  ranch  on  the  Gray  Bull, 
which  flows  into  the  Bighorn  ;  and  those  of 
Mr.  G.  B.  Grinnell  have  also  occasionally 
done  so.  Any  set  of  moderately  good  ropers 
and  riders,  who  are  accustomed  to  back  one 
another  up  and  act  together,  can  accomplish 
the  feat  if  they  have  smooth  ground  and 
plenty  of  room.  It  is,  however,  indeed  a  feat 
of  skill  and  daring  for  a  single  man  ;  and 
yet  I  have  known  of  more  than  one  instance 
in  which  it  has  been  accomplished  by  some 
reckless  knight  of  the  rope  and  the  saddle. 
One  such  occurred  in  1887  on  the  Flathead 
Reservation,  the  hero  being  a  half-breed  ;  and 
another  in  1890  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bighorn, 
where  a  cowboy  roped,  bound,  and  killed  a 
large  bear  single-handed. 

My  friend  General  "  Red "  Jackson,  of 
Bellemeade,  in  the  pleasant  mid-county  of 


122  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Tennessee,  once  did  a  feat  which  casts  into 
the  shade  even  the  feats  of  the  men  of  the 
lariat.  General  Jackson,  who  afterwards  be- 
came one  of  the  ablest  and  most  renowned 
of  the  Confederate  cavalry  leaders,  was  at  the 
time  a  young  officer  in  the  Mounted  Rifle 
Regiment,  now  known  as  the  3d  United  States 
Cavalry.  It  was  some  years  before  the  Civil 
War,  and  the  regiment  was  on  duty  in  the 
Southwest,  then  the  debatable  land  of  Co- 
manche  and  Apache.  While  on  a  scout  after 
hostile  Indians,  the  troops  in  their  march 
roused  a  large  grisly  which  sped  off  across 
the  plain  in  front  of  them.  Strict  orders  had 
been  issued  against  firing  at  game,  because 
of  the  nearness  of  the  Indians.  Young  Jack- 
son was  a  man  of  great  strength,  a  keen 
swordsman,  who  always  kept  the  finest  edge 
on  his  blade,  and  he  was  on  a  swift  and  met- 
tled Kentucky  horse,  which  luckily  had  but 
one  eye.  Riding  at  full  speed  he  soon  over- 
took the  quarry.  As  the  horse  hoofs  sounded 
nearer,  the  grim  bear  ceased  its  flight,  and 
whirling  round  stood  at  bay,  raising  itself  on 
its  hind-legs  and  threatening  its  pursuer  with 
bared  fangs  and  spread  claws.  Carefully  rid- 
ing his  horse  so  that  its  blind  side  should  be 
towards  the  monster,  the  cavalryman  swept 
by  at  a  run,  handling  his  steed  with  such  dar- 
ing skill  that  he  just  cleared  the  blow  of  the 
dreaded  fore-paw,  while  with  one  mighty 
sabre  stroke  he  cleft  the  bear's  skull,  slaying 
the  grinning  beast  as  it  stood  upright. 


THE  COUGAR.  123 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   COUGAR. 

NO  animal  of  the  chase  is  so  difficult  to 
kill  by  fair  still-hunting  as  the  cougar — 
that  beast  of  many  names,  known  in  the  East 
as  panther  and  painter,  in  the  West  as  moun- 
tain lion,  in  the  Southwest  as  Mexican  lion, 
and  in  the  southern  continent  as  lion  and 
puma. 

Without  hounds  its  pursuit  is  so  uncertain 
that  from  the  still-hunter's  standpoint  it  hardly 
deserves  to  rank  as  game  at  all — though,  by 
the  way,  it  is  itself  a  more  skilful  still-hunter 
than  any  human  rival.  It  prefers  to  move 
abroad  by  night  or  at  dusk  ;  and  in  the  day- 
time usually  lies  hid  in  some  cave  or  tangled 
thicket  where  it  is  absolutely  impossible  even 
to  stumble  on  it  by  chance.  It  is  a  beast  of 
stealth  and  rapine  ;  its  great,  velvet  paws, 
never  make  a  sound,  and  it  is  always  on  the 
watch  whether  for  prey  or  for  enemies,  while 
it  rarely  leaves  shelter  even  when  it  thinks 
itself  safe.  Its  soft,  leisurely  movements  and 
uniformity  of  color  make  it  difficult  to  dis- 
cover at  best,  and  its  extreme  watchfulness 
helps  it ;  but  it  is  the  cougar's  reluctance  to 


124  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

leave  cover  at  any  time,  its  habit  of  slinking 
off  through  the  brush,  instead  of  running  in 
the  open,  when  startled,  and  the  way  in  which 
it  lies  motionless  in  its  lair  even  when  a  man 
is  within  twenty  yards,  that  render  it  so  diffi- 
cult to  still-hunt. 

In  fact  it  is  next  to  impossible  with  any 
hope  of  success  regularly  to  hunt  the  cougar 
without  dogs  or  bait.  Most  cougars  that  are 
killed  by  still-hunters  are  shot  by  accident 
while  the  man  is  after  other  game.  This  has 
been  my  own  experience.  Although  not  com- 
mon, cougars  are  found  near  my  ranch,  where 
the  ground  is  peculiarly  favorable  for  the 
solitary  rifleman  ;  and  for  ten  years  I  have, 
off  and  on,  devoted  a  day  or  two  to  their  pur- 
suit ;  but  never  successfully.  One  Decem- 
ber a  large  cougar  took  up  his  abode  on  a 
densely  wooded  bottom  two  miles  above  the 
ranch  house.  I  did  not  discover  his  existence 
until  I  went  there  one  evening  to  kill  a  deer, 
and  found  that  he  had  driven  all  the  deer  off 
the  bottom,  having  killed  several,  as  well  as 
a  young  heifer.  Snow  was  falling  at  the  time, 
but  the  storm  was  evidently  almost  over ;  the 
leaves  were  all  off  the  trees  and  bushes  ;  and 
I  felt  that  next  day  there  would  be  such  a 
chance  to  follow  the  cougar  as  fate  rarely 
offered.  In  the  morning  by  dawn  I  was  at  the 
bottom,  and  speedily  found  his  trail.  Fol- 
lowing it  I  came  across  his  bed,  among  some 
cedars  in  a  dark,  steep  gorge,  where  the  buttes 
bordered  the  bottom.  He  had  evidently  just 
left  it,  and  I  followed  his  tracks  all  day.  But 


THE  COUGAR.  125 

I  never  caught  a  glimpse  of  him,  and  late  in 
the  afternoon  I  trudged  wearily  homewards. 
When  I  went  out  next  morning  I  found  that 
as  soon  as  I  abandoned  the  chase,  my  quarry, 
according  to  the  uncanny  habit  sometimes 
displayed  by  his  kind,  coolly  turned  likewise, 
and  deliberately  dogged  my  footsteps  to  with- 
in a  mile  of  the  ranch  house ;  his  round  foot- 
prints being  as  clear  as  writing  in  the  snow. 

This  was  the  best  chance  of  the  kind  that 
I  ever  had  ;  but  again  and  again  I  have 
found  fresh  signs  of  cougar,  such  as  a  lair 
which  they  had  just  left,  game  they  had 
killed,  or  one  of  our  venison  caches  which 
they  had  robbed,  and  have  hunted  for  them 
all  day  without  success.  My  failures  were 
doubtless  due  in  part  to  various  shortcomings 
in  hunter's-craft  on  my  own  part ;  but  equally 
without  doubt  they  were  mainly  due  to  the 
quarry's  wariness  and  its  sneaking  ways. 

I  have  seen  a  wild  cougar  alive  but  twice, 
and  both  times  by  chance.  On  one  occasion 
one  of  my  men,  Merrifield,  and  I  surprised 
one  eating  a  skunk  in  a  bullberry  patch  ;  and 
by  our  own  bungling  frightened  it  away  from 
its  unsavory  repast  without  getting  a  shot. 

On  the  other  occasion  luck  befriended  me. 
I  was  with  a  pack  train  in  the  Rockies,  and 
one  day,  feeling  lazy,  and  as  we  had  no  meat 
in  camp,  I  determined  to  try  for  deer  by 
lying  in  wait  beside  a  recently  travelled  game 
trail.  The  spot  I  chose  was  a  steep,  pine- 
clad  slope  leading  down  to  a  little  mountain 
lake.  I  hid  behind  a  breastwork  of  rotten 
4—s 


126  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

logs,  with  a  few  young  evergreens  in  front 
— an  excellent  ambush.  A  broad  game  trail 
slanted  down  the  hill  directly  past  me.  I  lay 
perfectly  quiet  for  about  an  hour,  listening  to 
the  murmur  of  the  pine  forests,  and  the  occa- 
sional call  of  a  jay  or  woodpecker,  and  gaz- 
ing eagerly  along  the  trail  in  the  waning  light 
of  the  late  afternoon.  Suddenly,  without 
noise  or  warning  of  any  kind,  a  cougar  stood 
in  the  trail  before  me.  The  unlooked-for 
and  unheralded  approach  of  the  beast  was 
fairly  ghost-like.  With  its  head  lower  than 
its  shoulders,  and  its  long  tail  twitching,  it 
slouched  down  the  path,  treading  as  softly  as 
a  kitten.  I  waited  until  it  had  passed  and 
then  fired  into  the  short  ribs,  the  bullet  rang- 
ing forward.  Throwing  its  tail  up  in  the  air, 
and  giving  a  bound,  the  cougar  galloped  off 
over  a  slight  ridge.  But  it  did  not  go  far ; 
within  a  hundred  yards  I  found  it  stretched 
on  its  side,  its  jaws  still  working  convulsively. 
The  true  way  to  hunt  the  cougar  is  to  follow 
it  with  dogs.  If  the  chase  is  conducted  in 
this  fashion,  it  is  very  exciting,  and  resembles 
on  a  larger  scale  the  ordinary  method  of 
hunting  the  wildcat  or  small  lynx,  as  practised 
by  the  sport-loving  planters  of  the  southern 
States.  With  a  very  little  training,  hounds 
readily  and  eagerly  pursue  the  cougar,  show- 
ing in  this  kind  of  chase  none  of  the  fear  and 
disgust  they  are  so  prone  to  exhibit  when  put 
on  the  trail  of  the  certainly  no  more  danger- 
ous wolf.  The  cougar,  when  the  hounds  are 
on  its  track,  at  first  runs,  but  when  hard* 


THE  COUGAR.  127 

pressed  takes  to  a  tree,  or  possibly  comes  to 
bay  in  thick  cover.  Its  attention  is  then  so 
taken  up  with  the  hounds  that  it  can  usually 
be  approached  and  shot  without  much  diffi- 
culty ;  though  some  cougars  break  bay  when 
the  hunters  come  near,  and  again  make  off, 
when  they  can  only  be  stopped  by  many  large 
and  fierce  hounds.  Hounds  are  often  killed 
in  these  rights ;  and  if  hungry  a  cougar  will 
pounce  on  any  dog  for  food ;  yet,  as  I  have  else- 
where related,  I  know  of  one  instance  in  which 
a  small  pack  of  big,  savage  hounds  killed  a 
cougar  unassisted.  General  Wade  Hampton, 
who  with  horse  and  hound  has  been  the 
mightiest  hunter  America  has  ever  seen,  in- 
forms me  that  he  has  killed  with  his  pack 
some  sixteen  cougars,  during  the  fifty  years 
he  has  hunted  in  South  Carolina  and  Missis- 
sippi. I  believe  they  were  all  killed  in  the 
latter  State.  General  Hampton's  hunting 
has  been  chiefly  for  bear  and  deer,  though 
his  pack  also  follows  the  lynx  and  the  gray 
fox ;  and,  of  course,  if  good  fortune  throws 
either  a  wolf  or  a  cougar  in  his  way  it  is 
followed  as  the  game  of  all  others.  All  the 
cougars  he  killed  were  either  treed  or  brought 
to  bay  in  a  canebrake  by  the  hounds ;  and 
they  often  handled  the  pack  very  roughly  in 
the  death  struggle.  He  found  them  much 
more  dangerous  antagonists  than  the  black 
bear  when  assailed  with  the  hunting  knife,  a 
weapon  of  which  he  was  very  fond.  How- 
ever, if  his  pack  had  held  a  few  very  large, 
savage  dogs,  put  in  purely  for  fighting  when 


128  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

the  quarry  was  at  bay,  I  think  the  danger 
would  have  been  minimized. 

General  Hampton  followed  his  game  on 
horseback ;  but  in  following  the  cougar  with 
dogs  this  is  by  no  means  always  necessary. 
Thus  Col.  Cecil  Clay,  of  Washington,  killed 
a  cougar  in  West  Virginia,  on  foot  with  only 
three  or  four  hounds.  The  dogs  took  the 
cold  trail,  and  he  had  to  run  many  miles  over 
the  rough,  forest-clad  mountains  after  them. 
Finally  they  drove  the  cougar  up  a  tree ;  where 
he  found  it,  standing  among  the  branches, 
in  a  half-erect  position,  its  hind-feet  on  one 
limb  and  its  fore-feet  on  another,  while  it 
glared  down  at  the  dogs,  and  switched  its 
tail  from  side  to  side.  He  shot  it  through 
both  shoulders,  and  down  it  came  in  a  heap, 
whereupon  the  dogs  jumped  in  and  worried 
it,  for  its  fore-legs  were  useless,  though  it 
managed  to  catch  one  dog  in  its  jaws  and 
bite  him  severely. 

A  wholly  exceptional  instance  of  the  kind 
was  related  to  me  by  my  old  hunting  friend 
Willis.  In  his  youth,  in  southwest  Missouri, 
he  knew  a  half-witted  "  poor  white  "  who  was 
very  fond  of  hunting  coons.  He  hunted  at 
night,  armed  with  an  axe,  and  accompanied 
by  his  dog  Penny,  a  large,  savage,  half-starved 
cur.  One  dark  night  the  dog  treed  an  animal 
which  he  could  not  see ;  so  he  cut  down  the 
tree,  and  immediately  Penny  jumped  in  and 
grabbed  the  beast.  The  man  sung  out  "  Hold 
on,  Penny,"  seeing  that  the  dog  had  seized 
some  large,  wild  animal;  the  next  moment 


THE  COUGAR.  129 

the  brute  knocked  the  dog  endways,  and  at 
the  same  instant  the  man  split  open  its  head 
with  the  axe.  Great  was  his  astonishment, 
and  greater  still  the  astonishment  of  the 
neighbors  next  day  when  it  was  found  that 
he  had  actually  killed  a  cougar.  These  great 
cats  often  take  to  trees  in  a  perfectly  foolish 
manner.  My  friend,  the  hunter  Woody,  in 
all  his  thirty  years'  experience  in  the  wilds 
never  killed  but  one  cougar.  He  was  lying 
out  in  camp  with  two  dogs  at  the  time  ;  it  was 
about  midnight,  the  fire  was  out,  and  the 
night  was  pitch-black.  He  was  roused  by 
the  furious  barking  of  his  two  dogs,  who  had 
charged  into  the  gloom,  and  were  apparently 
baying  at  something  in  a  tree  close  by.  He 
kindled  the  fire,  and  to  his  astonishment 
found  the  thing  in  the  tree  to  be  a  cougar. 
Coming  close  underneath  he  shot  it  with  his 
revolver ;  thereupon  it  leaped  down,  ran  some 
forty  yards,  and  climbed  up  another  tree, 
where  it  died  among  the  branches. 

If  cowboys  come  across  a  cougar  in  open 
ground  they  invariably  chase  and  try  to  rope 
it — as  indeed  they  do  with  any  wild  animal. 
I  have  known  several  instances  of  cougars 
being  roped  in  this  way ;  in  one  the  animal 
was  brought  into  camp  alive  by  two  strapping 
cowpunchers. 

The  cougar  sometimes  stalks  its  prey,  and 
sometimes  lies  in  wait  for  it  beside  a  game- 
trail  or  drinking  pool — very  rarely  indeed  does 
it  crouch  on  the  limb  of  a  tree.  When  excited 
by  the  presence  of  game  it  is  sometimes  very 
9 


1 30  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

bold.  Willis  once  fired  at  some  bighorn  sheep, 
on  a  steep  mountain-side  ;  he  missed,  and  im- 
mediately after  his  shot,  a  cougar  made  a  dash 
into  the  midst  of  the  flying  band,  in  hopes  to 
secure  a  victim.  The  cougar  roams  over  long 
distances,  and  often  changes  its  hunting 
ground,  perhaps  remaining  in  one  place  two 
or  three  months,  until  the  game  is  exhausted, 
and  then  shifting  to  another.  When  it  does  not 
lie  in  wait  it  usually  spends  most  of  the  night, 
winter  and  summer,  in  prowling  restlessly 
around  the  places  where  it  thinks  it  may  come 
across  prey,  and  it  will  patiently  follow  an 
animal's  trail.  There  is  no  kind  of  game, 
save  the  full-grown  grisly  and  buffalo,  which  it 
does  not  at  times  assail  and  master.  It  readily 
snaps  up  grisly  cubs  or  buffalo  calves  ;  and  in 
at  least  one  instance,  I  have  known  of  it 
springing  on,  slaying,  and  eating  a  full-grown 
wolf.  I  presume  the  latter  was  taken  by  sur- 
prise. On  the  other  hand,  the  cougar  itself 
has  to  fear  the  big  timber  wolves  when 
maddened  by  the  winter  hunger  and  gathered 
in  small  parties ;  while  a  large  grisly  would  of 
course  be  an  overmatch  for  it  twice  over, 
though  its  superior  agility  puts  it  beyond  the 
grisly's  power  to  harm  it,  unless  by  some  un- 
lucky chance  taken  in  a  cave.  Nor  could  a 
cougar  overcome  a  bull  moose,  or  a  bull  elk 
either,  if  the  latter 's  horns  were  grown,  save 
by  taking  it  unawares.  By  choice,  with  such 
big  game,  its  victims  are  the  cows  and  young. 
The  prong-horn  rarely  comes  within  reach  of 
its  spring ;  but  it  is  the  dreaded  enemy  of  big 


THE  COUGAR.  131 

horn,  white  goat,  and  every  kind  of  deer,  while 
it  also  preys  on  all  the  smaller  beasts,  such 
as  foxes,  coons,  rabbits,  beavers,  and  even 
gophers,  rats,  and  mice.  It  sometimes  makes  a 
thorny  meal  of  the  porcupine,  and  if  sufficiently 
hungry  attacks  and  eats  its  smaller  cousin  the 
lynx.  It  is  not  a  brave  animal ;  nor  does  it 
run  its  prey  down  in  open  chase.  It  always 
make  its  attacks  by  stealth,  and  if  possible 
from  behind,  and  relies  on  two  or  three  tre- 
mendous springs  to  bring  it  on  the  doomed 
creature's  back.  It  uses  its  claws  as  well  as 
its  teeth  in  holding  and  killing  the  prey.  If 
possible  it  always  seizes  a  large  animal  by  the 
throat,  whereas  the  wolf's  point  of  attack  is 
more  often  the  haunch  or  flank.  Small  deer 
or  sheep  it  will  often  knock  over  and  kill, 
merely  using  its  big  paws  ;  sometimes  it  breaks 
their  necks.  It  has  a  small  head  compared  to 
the  jaguar,  and  its  bite  is  much  less  danger- 
ous. Hence,  as  compared  to  its  larger  and 
bolder  relative,  it  places  more  trust  in  its  claws 
and  less  in  its  teeth. 

Though  the  cougar  prefers  woodland,  it  is 
not  necessarily  a  beast  of  the  dense  forests 
only ;  for  it  is  found  in  all  the  plains  country, 
living  in  the  scanty  timber  belts  which  fringe 
the  streams,  or  among  the  patches  of  brush  in 
the  Bad  Lands.  The  persecution  of  hunters 
however  always  tends  to  drive  it  into  the  most 
i  thickly  wooded  and  broken  fastnesses  of  the 
mountains.  The  she  has  from  one  to  three 
kittens,  brought  forth  in  a  cave  or  a  secluded 
lair,  under  a  dead  log  or  in  very  thick  brush, 


132  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

It  is  said  that  the  old  he's  kill  the  small  male 
kittens  when  they  get  a  chance.  They  cer- 
tainly at  times  during  the  breeding  season 
fight  desperately  among  themselves.  Cougars 
are  very  solitary  beasts ;  it  is  rare  to  see  more 
than  one  at  a  time,  and  then  only  a  mother 
and  young,  or  a  mated  male  and  female.  While 
she  has  kittens,  the  mother  is  doubly  des- 
tructive to  game.  The  young  begin  to  kill 
for  themselves  very  early.  The  first  fall,  after 
they  are  born,  they  attack  large  game,  and 
from  ignorance  are  bolder  in  making  their 
attacks  than  their  parents ;  but  they  are  clumsy 
and  often  let  the  prey  escape.  Like  all  cats, 
cougars  are  comparatively  easy  to  trap,  much 
more  so  than  beasts  of  the  dog  kind,  such  as 
the  fox  and  wolf. 

They  are  silent  animals ;  but  old  hunters 
say  that  at  mating  time  the  males  call  loudly, 
while  the  females  have  a  very  distinct  answer. 
They  are  also  sometimes  noisy  at  other  seasons. 
I  am  not  sure  that  I  ever  heard  one  ;  but  one 
night,  while  camped  in  a  heavily  timbered 
coulie  near  Kildeer  Mountains,  where,  as  their 
footprints  showed,  the  beasts  were  plentiful, 
I  twice  heard  a  loud,  wailing  scream  ring- 
ing through  the  impenetrable  gloom  which 
shrouded  the  hills  around  us.  My  companion, 
an  old  plainsman,  said  that  this  was  the  cry 
of  the  cougar  prowling  for  its  prey.  Cer- 
tainly no  man  could  well  listen  to  a  stranger 
and  wilder  sound. 

Ordinarily  the  rifleman  is  in  no  danger  from 
a  hunted  cougar ;  the  beast's  one  idea  seems 


THE  COUGAR.  133 

to  be  flight,  and  even  if  its  assailant  is  very 
close,  it  rarely  charges  if  there  is  any  chance 
for  escape.  Yet  there  are  occasions  when  it 
will  show  fight.  In  the  spring  of  1890,  a  man 
with  whom  I  had  more  than  once  worked  on 
the  round-up — though  I  never  knew  his  name 
— was  badly  mauled  by  a  cougar  near  my  ranch. 
He  was  hunting  with  a  companion  and  they 
unexpectedly  came  on  the  cougar  on  a  shelf 
of  sandstone  above  their  herds,  only  some  ten 
feet  off.  It  sprang  down  on  the  man,  mangled 
him  with  teeth  and  claws  for  a  moment,  and 
then  ran  away.  Another  man  I  knew,  a 
hunter  named  Ed.  Smith,  who  had  a  small 
ranch  near  Helena,  was  once  charged  by  a 
wounded  cougar ;  he  received  a  couple  of  deep 
scratches,  but  was  not  seriouly  hurt. 

Many  old  frontiersmen  tell  tales  of  the 
cougar's  occasionally  itself  making  the  attack, 
and  dogging  to  his  death  some  unfortunate 
wayfarer.  Many  others  laugh  such  tales  to 
scorn.  It  is  certain  that  if  such  attacks  occur 
they  are  altogether  exceptional,  being  indeed 
of  such  extreme  rarity  that  they  may  be  en- 
tirely disregarded  in  practice.  I  should  have 
no  more  hesitation  in  sleeping  out  in  a  wood 
where  there  were  cougars,  or  walking  through  it 
after  nightfall,  than  I  should  have  if  the 
cougars  were  tomcats. 

Yet  it  is  foolish  to  deny  that  in  exceptional 
instances  attacks  may  occur.  Cougars  vary 
wonderfully  in  size,  and  no  less  in  temper. 
Indeed  I  think  that  by  nature  they  are  as 
ferocious  and  bloodthirsty  as  they  are 

4— SB 


134  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

cowardly ;  and  that  their  habit  of  sometimes 
dogging  wayfarers  for  miles  is  due  to  a  desire 
for  bloodshed  which  they  lack  the  courage  to 
realize.  In  the  old  days,  when  all  wild  beasts 
were  less  shy  than  at  present,  there  was  more 
danger  from  the  cougar  ;  and  this  was  es- 
pecially true  in  the  dark  canebrakes  of  some 
of  the  southern  States,  where  the  man  a  cougar 
was  most  likely  to  encounter  was  a  nearly 
naked  and  unarmed  negro.  General  Hampton 
tells  me  that  near  his  Mississippi  plantation, 
many  years  ago,  a  negro  who  was  one  of  a 
gang  engaged  in  building  a  railroad  through 
low  and  wet  ground  was  waylaid  and  killed 
by  a  cougar  late  one  night  as  he  was  walking 
alone  through  the  swamp. 

I  knew  two  men  in  Missoula  who  were  once 
attacked  by  cougars  in  a  very  curious  manner. 
It  was  in  January,  and  they  were  walking  home 
through  the  snow  after  a  hunt,  each  carrying 
on  his  back  the  saddle,  haunches,  and  hide  of 
a  deer  he  had  slain.  Just  at  dusk,  as  they 
were  passing  through  a  narrow  ravine,  the 
man  in  front  heard  his  partner  utter  a  sudden 
loud  call  for  help.  Turning,  he  was  dumb- 
founded to  see  the  man  lying  on  his  face  in 
the  snow,  with  a  cougar  which  had  evidently 
just  knocked  him  down  standing  over  him, 
grasping  the  deer  meat ;  while  another  cougar 
was  galloping  up  to  assist.  Swinging  his  rifle 
round  he  shot  the  first  one  in  the  brain,  and  it 
dropped  motionless,  whereat  the  second  halted, 
wheeled,  and  bounded  into  the  woods.  His 
companion  was  not  in  the  least  hurt  or  even 


THE  COUGAR.  135 

frightened,  though  greatly  amazed.  The 
cougars  were  not  full  grown,  but  young  of  the 
year. 

Now  in  this  case  I  do  not  believe  the  beasts 
had  any  real  intention  of  attacking  the  men. 
They  were  young  animals,  bold,  stupid,  and 
very  hungry.  The  smell  of  the  raw  meat  ex- 
cited them  beyond  control,  and  they  probably 
could  not  make  out  clearly  what  the  men  were, 
as  they  walked  bent  under  their  burdens,  with 
the  deer  skins  on  their  backs.  Evidently  the 
cougars  were  only  trying  to  get  at  the  venison. 

In  1886  a  cougar  killed  an  Indian  near 
Flathead  Lake.  Two  Indians  were  hunting 
together  on  horseback  when  they  came  on  the 
cougar.  It  fell  at  once  to  their  shots,  and 
they  dismounted  and  ran  towards  it.  Just  as 
they  reached  it  it  came  to,  and  seized  one, 
killing  him  instantly  with  a  couple  of  savage 
bites  in  the  throat  and  chest ;  it  then  raced 
after  the  other,  and,  as  he  sprung  on  his  horse, 
struck  him  across  the  buttocks,  inflicting  a 
deep  but  not  dangerous  scratch.  I  saw  this 
survivor  a  year  later.  He  evinced  great  re- 
luctance to  talk  of  the  event,  and  insisted  that 
the  thing  which  had  slain  his  companion  was 
not  really  a  cougar  at  all,  but  a  devil. 

A  she-cougar  does  not  often  attempt  to 
avenge  the  loss  of  her  young,  but  sometimes 
she  does.  A  remarkable  instance  of  the  kind 
happened  to  my  friend,  Professor  John  Bache 
McMaster,  in  1875.  He  was  camped  near  the 
head  of  Green  River,  Wyoming.  One  after- 
noon he  found  a  couple  of  cougar  kittens,  and 


136  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

took  them  into  camp;  they  were  clumsy, 
playful,  friendly  little  creatures.  The  next 
afternoon  he  remained  in  camp  with  the  cook. 
Happening  to  look  up  he  suddenly  spied  the 
mother  cougar  running  noiselessly  down  on 
them,  her  eyes  glaring  and  tail  twitching. 
Snatching  up  his  rifle,  he  killed  her  when  she 
was  barely  twenty  yards  distant. 

A  ranchman,  named  Trescott,  who  was  at 
one  time  my  neighbor,  told  me  that  while  he 
was  living  on  a  sheep-farm  in  the  Argentine, 
he  found  pumas  very  common,  and  killed  many. 
They  were  very  destructive  to  sheep  and  colts, 
but  were  singularly  cowardly  when  dealing 
with  men.  Not  only  did  they  never  attack 
human  beings,  under  any  stress  of  hunger,  but 
they  made  no  effective  resistance  when  brought 
to  bay,  merely  scratching  and  cuffing  like  a  big 
cat ;  so  that  if  found  in  a  cave,  it  was  safe  to 
creep  in  and  shoot  them  with  a  revolver.  Jag- 
uars, on  the  contrary,  were  very  dangerous 
antagonists. 


A  PECCARY  HUNT  OAT  THE  NUECES.  137 


CHAPTER    VI. 

A   PECCARY   HUNT   ON    THE   NUECES. 

In  the  United  States  the  peccary  is  only  found 
in  the  southernmost  corner  of  Texas.  In 
April  1892,  I  made  a  flying  visit  to  the  ranch 
country  of  this  region,  starting  from  the  town  of 
Uvalde  with  a  Texan  friend,  Mr.  John  Moore. 
My  trip  being  very  hurried,  I  had  but  a  couple 
of  days  to  devote  to  hunting. 

Our  first  halting-place  was  at  a  ranch  on  the 
Frio  ;  a  low,  wooden  building,  of  many  rooms, 
with  open  galleries  between  them,  and  verandas 
round  about.  The  country  was  in  some  re- 
spects like,  in  others  strangely  unlike,  the 
northern  plains  with  which  I  was  so  well 
acquainted.  It  was  for  the  most  part  covered 
with  a  scattered  growth  of  tough,  stunted  mes- 
quite  trees,  not  dense  enough  to  be  called 
a  forest,  and  yet  sufficiently  close  to  cut  off 
the  view.  It  was  very  dry,  even  as  compared 
with  the  northern  plains.  The  bed  of  the 
Frio  was  filled  with  coarse  gravel,  and  for  the 
most  part  dry  as  a  bone  on  the  surface, 
the  water  seeping  through  underneath, 
and  only  appearing  in  occasional  deep  holes. 
These  deep  holes  or  ponds  never  fail,  even 
after  a  year's  drouth ;  they  were  filled  with  fish. 


138  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

One  lay  quite  near  the  ranch  house,  under 
a  bold  rocky  bluff ;  at  its  edge  grew  giant 
cypress  trees.  In  the  hollows  and  by  the 
watercourses  were  occasional  groves  of  pecans, 
live-oaks,  and  elms.  Strange  birds  hopped 
among  the  bushes ;  the  chaparral  cock — a 
big,  handsome  ground-cuckoo  of  remarkable 
habits,  much  given  to  preying  on  small  snakes 
and  lizards — ran  over  the  ground  with  ex- 
traordinary rapidity.  Beautiful  swallow-tailed 
king-birds  with  rosy  plumage  perched  on  the 
tops  of  the  small  trees,  and  soared  and  flitted 
in  graceful  curves  above  them.  Blackbirds 
of  many  kinds  scuttled  in  flocks  about  the 
corrals  and  outbuildings  around  the  ranches. 
Mocking-birds  abounded,  and  were  very  noisy, 
singing  almost  all  the  daytime,  but  with  their 
usual  irritating  inequality  of  performance, 
wonderfully  musical  and  powerful  snatches  of 
song  being  interspersed  with  imitations  of 
other  bird  notes  and  disagreeable  squalling. 
Throughout  the  trip  I  did  not  hear  one  of  them 
utter  the  beautiful  love  song  in  which  they 
sometimes  indulge  at  night. 

The  country  was  all  under  wire  fence,  unlike 
the  northern  regions,  the  pastures  however 
being  sometimes  many  miles  across.  When 
we  reached  the  Frio  ranch  a  herd  of  a  thou- 
sand cattle  had  just  been  gathered,  and  two 
or  three  hundred  beeves  and  young  stock  were 
being  cut  out  to  be  driven  northward  over  the 
trail.  The  cattle  were  worked  in  pens  much 
more  than  in  the  North,  and  on  all  the  ranches 
there  were  chutes  with  steering  gates,  by 


A  PECCARY  HUNT  ON  THE  NUECES.  139 

means  of  which  the  individuals  of  a  herd 
could  be  dexterously  shifted  into  various 
corrals.  The  branding  of  the  calves  was 
done  ordinarily  in  one  of  these  corrals  and  on 
foot,  the  calf  being  always  roped  by  both  fore- 
legs ;  otherwise  the  work  of  the  cowpunchers 
was  much  like  that  of  their  brothers  in  the 
North.  As  a  whole,  however,  they  were  dis- 
tinctly more  proficient  with  the  rope,  and  at 
least  half  of  them  were  Mexicans. 

There  were  some  bands  of  wild  cattle  living 
only  in  the  densest  timber  of  the  river  bot- 
toms which  were  literally  as  wild  as  deer,  and 
moreover  very  fierce  and  dangerous.  The 
pursuit  of  these  was  exciting  and  hazardous 
in  the  extreme.  The  men  who  took  part  in 
it  showed  not  only  the  utmost  daring  but  the 
most  consummate  horsemanship  and  wonder- 
ful skill  in  the  use  of  the  rope,  the  coil  being 
hurled  with  the  force  and  precision  of  an  iron 
quoit ;  a  single  man  speedily  overtaking, 
roping,  throwing,  and  binding  down  the  fiercest 
steer  or  bull. 

There  had  been  many  peccaries,  or,  as  the 
Mexicans  and  cowpunchers  of  the  border 
usually  call  them,  javalinas,  round  this  ranch 
a  few  years  before  the  date  of  my  visit.  Until 
1886,  or  thereabouts,  these  little  wild  hogs 
were  not  much  molested,  and  abounded  in 
the  dense  chaparral  around  the  lower  Rio 
Grande.  In  that  year,  however,  it  was  sud- 
denly discovered  that  their  hides  had  a  market 
value,  being  worth  four  bits — that  is,  half  a 
dollar — apiece ;  and  many  Mexicans  and  not 


I4o  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

a  few  shiftless  Texans  went  into  the  business 
of  hunting  them  as  a  means  of  livelihood. 
They  were  more  easily  killed  than  deer,  and, 
as  a  result,  they  were  speedily  exterminated 
in  many  localities  where  they  had  formerly 
been  numerous,  and  even  where  they  were 
left  were  to  be  found  only  in  greatly  dimin- 
ished numbers.  On  this  particular  Frio 
ranch  the  last  little  band  had  been  killed 
nearly  a  year  before.  There  were  three  of 
them,  a  boar  and  two  sows,  and  a  couple  of 
the  cowboys  stumbled  on  them  early  one 
morning  while  out  with  a  dog.  After  half  a 
mile's  chase  the  three  peccaries  ran  into  a 
hollow  pecan  tree,  and  one  of  the  cowboys, 
dismounting,  improvised  a  lance  by  tying  his 
knife  to  the  end  of  a  pole,  and  killed  them 
all. 

Many  anecdotes  were  related  to  me  of  what 
they  had  done  in  the  old  days  when  they  were 
plentiful  on  the  ranch.  They  were  then 
usually  found  in  parties  of  from  twenty  to 
thirty,  feeding  in  the  dense  chaparral,  the 
sows  rejoining  the  herd  with  the  young  very 
soon  after  the  birth  of  the  latter,  each  sow 
usually  having  but  one  or  two  at  a  litter.  At 
night  they  sometimes  lay  in  the  thickest 
cover,  but  always,  where  possible,  preferred 
to  house  in  a  cave  or  big  hollow  log,  one  in* 
variably  remaining  as  a  sentinel  close  to  the 
mouth,  looking  out.  If  this  sentinel  were  shot, 
another  would  almost  certainly  take  his  place. 
They  were  subject  to  freaks  of  stupidity,  and 
were  pugnacious  to  a  degree.  Not  only  would 


A  PECCARY  HUNT  ON  THE  NUECES.  141 

they  fight  if  molested,  but  they  would  often  at- 
tack entirely  without  provocation. 

Once  my  friend  Moore  himself,  while  out 
with  another  cowboy  on  horseback,  was  at- 
tacked in  sheer  wantonness  by  a  drove  of 
these  little  wild  hogs.  The  two  men  were 
riding  by  a  grove  of  live-oaks  along  a  wood- 
cutter's cart  track,  and  were  assailed  without 
a  moment's  warning.  The  little  creatures 
completely  surrounded  them,  cutting  fiercely 
at  the  horses1  legs  and  jumping  up  at  the 
riders'  feet.  The  men,  drawing  their  revolv- 
ers, dashed  through  and  were  closely  followed 
by  their  pursuers  for  three  or  four  hundred 
yards,  although  they  fired  right  and  left  with 
good  effect.  Both  of  the  horses  were  badly 
cut.  On  another  occasion  the  bookkeeper  of 
the  ranch  walked  off  to  a  water  hole  but  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  distant,  and  came  face  to 
face  with  a  peccary  on  a  cattle  trail,  where 
the  brush  was  thick.  Instead  of  getting  out 
of  his  way  the  creature  charged  him  instantly, 
drove  him  up  a  small  mesquite  tree,  and  kept 
him  there  for  nearly  two  hours,  looking  up  at 
him  and  champing  its  tusks. 

I  spent  two  days  hunting  round  this  ranch 
but  saw  no  peccary  sign  whatever,  although 
deer  were  quite  plentiful.  Parties  of  wild 
geese  and  sandhill  cranes  occasionally  flew 
overhead.  At  nightfall  the  poor-wills  wailed 
everywhere  through  the  woods,  and  coyotes 
yelped  and  yelled,  while  in  the  early  morning 
the  wild  turkeys  gobbled  loudly  from  their 
roosts  in  the  tops  of  the  pecan  trees. 


142  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Having  satisfied  myself  that  there  were  no 
javalinas  left  on  the  Frio  ranch,  and  being 
nearly  at  the  end  of  my  holiday,  I  was  about 
to  abandon  the  effort  to  get  any,  when  a 
passing  cowman  happened  to  mention  the  fact 
that  some  were  still  to  be  found  on  the  Nueces 
River  thirty  miles  or  thereabouts  to  the  south- 
ward. Thither  I  determined  to  go,  and  next 
morning  Moore  and  I  started  in  a  buggy 
drawn  by  a  redoubtable  horse,  named  Jim 
Swinger,  which  we  were  allowed  to  use  be- 
cause he  bucked  so  under  the  saddle  that 
nobody  on  the  ranch  could  ride  him.  We 
drove  six  or  seven  hours  across  the  dry, 
waterless  plains.  There  had  been  a  heavy 
frost  a  few  days  before,  which  had  blackened 
the  budding  mesquite  trees,  and  their  twigs  still 
showed  no  signs  of  sprouting.  Occasionally 
we  came  across  open  spaces  where  there  was 
nothing  but  short  brown  grass.  In  most 
places,  however,  the  leafless,  sprawling  mes- 
quites  were  scattered  rather  thinly  over  the 
ground,  cutting  off  an  extensive  view  and 
merely  adding  to  the  melancholy  barrenness  of 
the  landscape.  The  road  was  nothing  but  a 
couple  of  dusty  wheel-tracks  ;  the  ground  was 
parched,  and  the  grass  cropped  close  by  the 
gaunt,  starved  cattle.  As  we  drove  along 
buzzards  and  great  hawks  occasionally  soared 
overhead.  Now  and  then  we  passed  lines  of 
wild-looking,  long-horned  steers,  and  once  we 
came  on  the  grazing  horses  of  a  cow-outfit, 
just  preparing  to  start  northward  over  the 
trail  to  the  fattening  pastures.  Occasionally 


A  PECCARY  HUNT  ON  THE  NUECES.  143 

we  encountered  one  or  two  cowpunchers: 
either  Texans,  habited  exactly  like  their 
brethren  in  the  North,  with  broad-brimmed 
gray  hats,  blue  shirts,  silk  neckerchiefs,  and 
leather  leggings ;  or  else  Mexicans,  more 
gaudily  dressed,  and  wearing  peculiarly  stiff, 
very  broad-brimmed  hats,  with  conical  tops. 

Toward  the  end  of  our  ride  we  got  where 
the  ground  was  more  fertile,  and  there  had 
recently  been  a  sprinkling  of  rain.  Here  we 
came  across  wonderful  flower  prairies.  In 
one  spot  I  kept  catching  glimpses  through  the 
mesquite  trees  of  lilac  stretches  which  I  had 
first  thought  must  be  ponds  of  water.  On 
coming  nearer  they  proved  to  be  acres  on 
acres  thickly  covered  with  beautiful  lilac- 
colored  flowers.  Farther  on  we  came  to 
where  broad  bands  of  red  flowers  covered  the 
ground  for  many  furlongs ;  then  their  places 
were  taken  by  yellow  blossoms,  elsewhere  by 
white.  Generally  each  band  or  patch  of 
ground  was  covered  densely  by  flowers  of  the 
same  color,  making  a  great  vivid  streak  across 
the  landscape  ;  but  in  places  they  were  mixed 
together,  red,  yellow,  and  purple,  interspersed 
in  patches  and  curving  bands,  carpeting  the 
prairie  in  a  strange,  bright  pattern. 

Finally,  toward  evening  we  reached  the 
Nueces.  Where  we  struck  it  first  the  bed  was 
dry,  except  in  occasional  deep,  malarial-look- 
ing pools,  but  a  short  distance  below  there 
began  to  be  a  running  current.  Great  blue 
herons  were  stalking  beside  these  pools,  and 
from  one  we  flushed  a  white  ibis.  In  the 


*44  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

woods  were  reddish  cardinal  birds,  much  less 
brilliant  in  plumage  than  the  true  cardinals 
and  the  scarlet  tanagers ;  and  yellow-headed 
titmice  which  had  already  built  large  domed 
nests. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Nueces  itself,  the  brush 
grew  thick.  There  were  great  groves  of  pe- 
can trees,  and  ever-green  live-oaks  stood  in 
many  places,  long,  wind-shaken  tufts  of  gray 
moss  hanging  from  their  limbs.  Many  of  the 
trees  in  the  wet  spots  were  of  giant  size,  and 
the  whole  landscape  was  semi-tropical  in  char- 
acter. High  on  a  bluff  shoulder  overlooking 
the  course  of  the  river  was  perched  the  ranch 
house,  toward  which  we  were  bending  our 
steps;  and  here  we  were  received  with  the 
hearty  hospitality  characteristic  of  the  ranch 
country  everywhere. 

The  son  of  the  ranchman,  a  tall,  well-built 
young  fellow,  told  me  at  once  that  there  were 
peccaries  in  the  neighborhood,  and  that  he 
had  himself  shot  one  but  two  or  three  days 
before,  and  volunteered  to  lend  us  horses  and 
pilot  us  to  the  game  on  the  morrow,  with  the 
help  of  his  two  dogs.  The  last  were  big  black 
curs  with,  as  we  were  assured,  "  considerable 
hound  "  in  them.  One  was  at  the  time  stay- 
ing at  the  ranch  house,  the  other  was  four  or 
five  miles  off  with  a  Mexican  goat-herder, 
and  it  was  arranged  that  early  in  the  morning 
we  should  ride  down  to  the  latter  place,  tak- 
ing the  first  dog  with  us  and  procuring  his 
companion  when  we  reached  the  goat-herder'a 
house. 


A  PECCARY  HUNT  ON  THE  NUECES.  145 

We  started  after  breakfast,  riding  powerful 
cow-ponies,  well  trained  to  gallop  at  full  speed 
through  the  dense  chaparral.  The  big  black 
hound  slouched  at  our  heels.  We  rode  down 
the  banks  of  the  Nueces,  crossing  and  recross- 
ing  the  stream.  Here  and  there  were  long, 
deep  pools  in  the  bed  of  the  river,  where 
rushes  and  lilies  grew  and  huge  mailed  garfish 
swam  slowly  just  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
water.  Once  my  two  companions  stopped  to 
pull  a  mired  cow  out  of  a  slough,  hauling 
with  ropes  from  their  saddle  horns.  In  places 
there  were  half-dry  pools,  out  of  the  regular 
current  of  the  river,  the  water  green  and  fetid. 
The  trees  were  very  tall  and  large.  The 
streamers  of  pale  gray  moss  hung  thickly  from 
the  branches  of  the  live-oaks,  and  when  many 
trees  thus  draped  stood  close  together  they 
bore  a  strangely  mournful  and  desolate  look. 

We  finally  found  the  queer  little  hut  of  the 
Mexican  goat-herder  in  the  midst  of  a  grove 
of  giant  pecans.  On  the  walls  were  nailed 
the  skins  of  different  beasts,  raccoons,  wild- 
cats, and  the  tree-civet,  with  its  ringed  tail. 
The  Mexican's  brown  wife  and  children  were 
in  the  hut,  but  the  man  himself  and  the  goats 
were  off  in  the  forest,  and  it  took  us  three  or 
four  hours'  search  before  we  found  him. 
Then  it  was  nearly  noon,  and  we  lunched  in 
his  hut,  a  square  building  of  split  logs,  with 
bare  earth  floor,  and  roof  of  clap-boards  and 
bark.  Our  lunch  consisted  of  goat's  meat 
and  pan  de  mats.  The  Mexican,  a  broad- 
chested  man  with  a  stolid  Indian  face,  was 
10 


146  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

evidently  quite  a  sportsman,  and  had  two  or 
three  half-starved  hounds,  besides  the  funny, 
hairless  little  house  dogs,  of  which  Mexicans 
seem  so  fond. 

Having  borrowed  the  javalina  hound  of 
which  we  were  in  search,  we  rode  off  in  quest 
of  our  game,  the  two  dogs  trotting  gayly 
ahead.  The  one  which  had  been  living  at 
the  ranch  had  evidently  fared  well,  and  was 
very  fat ;  the  other  was  little  else  but  skin  and 
bone,  but  as  alert  and  knowing  as  any  New 
York  street-boy,  with  the  same  air  of  disreput- 
able capacity.  It  was  this  hound  which  always 
did  most  in  finding  the  javalinas  and  bringing 
them  to  bay,  his  companion's  chief  use  being 
to  make  a  noise  and  lend  the  moral  support  of 
his  presence. 

We  rode  away  from  the  river  on  the  dry  up- 
lands, where  the  timber,  though  thick,  was 
small,  consisting  almost  exclusively  of  the 
thorny  mesquites.  Mixed  among  them  were 
prickly  pears,  standing  as  high  as  our  heads 
on  horseback,  and  Spanish  bayonets,  look- 
ing in  the  distance  like  small  palms;  and 
there  were  many  other  kinds  of  cactus,  all 
with  poisonous  thorns.  Two  or  three  times 
the  dogs  got  on  an  old  trail  and  rushed  off 
giving  tongue,  whereat  we  galloped  madly  af- 
ter them,  ducking  and  dodging  through  and 
among  the  clusters  of  spine-bearing  trees  and 
cactus,  not  without  getting  a  considerable 
number  of  thorns  in  our  hands  and  legs.  It 
was  very  dry  and  hot.  Where  the  javalinas 
live  in  droves  in  the  river  bottoms  they  often 


A  PECCARY  HUNT  ON  THE  NUECES.  147 

drink  at  the  pools ;  but  when  some  distance 
from  water  they  seem  to  live  quite  comfort- 
ably on  the  prickly  pear,  slaking  their  thirst 
by  eating  its  hard,  juicy  fibre. 

At  last,  after  several  false  alarms,  and  gal- 
lops which  led  to  nothing,  when  it  lacked  but 
an  hour  of  sundown  we  struck  a  band  of  five 
of  the  little  wild  hogs.  They  were  running  off 
through  the  mesquites  with  a  peculiar  hopping 
or  bounding  motion,  and  we  all,  dogs  and  men, 
tore  after  them  instantly. 

Peccaries  are  very  fast  for  a  few  hundred 
yards,  but  speedily  tire,  lose  their  wind,  and 
come  to  bay.  Almost  immediately  one  of  these, 
a  sow,  as  it  turned  out,  wheeled  and  charged  at 
Moore  as  he  passed.  Moore  never  seeing  her 
but  keeping  on  after  another.  The  sow  then 
stopped  and  stood  still,  chattering  her  teeth 
savagely,  and  I  jumped  off  my  horse  and 
dropped  her  dead  with  a  shot  in  the  spine, 
over  the  shoulders.  Moore  meanwhile  had 
dashed  off  after  his  pig  in  one  direction,  and 
killed  the  little  beast  with  a  shot  from  the  sad- 
dle when  it  had  come  to  bay,  turning  and  going 
straight  at  him.  Two  of  the  peccaries  got  off  ; 
the  remaining  one,  a  rather  large  boar,  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  two  dogs,  and  as  soon  as  I  had 
killed  the  sow  I  leaped  again  on  my  horse  and 
made  after  them,guided  by  the  yelping  and  bay- 
ing. In  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  they  were 
on  his  haunches,  and  he  wheeled  and  stood  un- 
der a  bush,  charging  at  them  when  they  came 
near  him,  and  once  catching  one,  inflicting  an 
ugly  cut.  All  the  while  his  teeth  kept  going 


148  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

like  castanets,  with  a  rapid  champing  sound. 
I  ran  up  close  and  killed  him  by  a  shot  through 
the  backbone  where  it  joined  the  neck.  His 
tusks  were  fine. 

The  few  minutes*  chase  on  horseback  was 
great  fun,  and  there  was  a  certain  excitement 
in  seeing  the  fierce  little  creatures  come  to  bay ; 
but  the  true  way  to  kill  these  peccaries  would 
be  with  the  spear.  They  could  often  be 
speared  on  horseback,  and  where  this  was  im- 
possible, by  using  dogs  to  bring  them  to  bay 
they  could  readily  be  killed  on  foot ;  though, 
as  they  are  very  active,  absolutely  fearless,  and 
inflict  a  most  formidable  bite,  it  would  usually 
be  safest  to  have  two  men  go  at  one  together. 
Peccaries  are  not  difficult  beasts  to  kill,  because 
their  short  wind  and  their  pugnacity  make  them 
come  to  bay  before  hounds  so  quickly.  Two 
or  three  good  dogs  can  bring  to  a  halt  a  herd 
of  considerable  size.  They  then  all  stand  in 
a  bunch,  or  else  with  their  sterns  against  a 
bank,  chattering  their  teeth  at  their  antagonists. 
When  angry  and  at  bay,  they  get  their  legs 
close  together,  their  shoulders  high,  and  their 
bristles  all  ruffled  and  look  the  very  incarnation 
of  anger,  and  they  fight  with  reckless  indiffer- 
ence to  the  very  last.  Hunters  usually  treat 
them  with  a  certain  amount  of  caution ;  but, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  know  of  but  one  case 
where  a  man  was  hurt  by  them.  He  had  shot 
at  and  wounded  one,  was  charged  both  by  it 
and  by  its  two  companions,  and  started  to  climb 
a  tree ;  but  as  he  drew  himself  from  the  ground, 
one  sprang  at  him  and  bit  him  through  the 


A  PECCARY  HUNT  ON  THE  NUECES.  149 

calf,  inflicting  a  very  severe  wound.  I  have 
known  of  several  cases  of  horses  being  cut, 
however,  and  dogs  are  very  commonly  killed. 
Indeed,  a  dog  new  to  the  business  is  almost 
certain  to  get  very  badly  scarred,  and  no  dog 
that  hunts  steadily  can  escape  without  some 
injury.  If  it  runs  in  right  at  the  heads  of  the 
animals,  the  probabilities  are  that  it  will  get 
killed ;  and,  as  a  rule,  even  two  good-sized 
hounds  cannot  kill  a  peccary,  though  it  is  no 
larger  than  either  of  them*  However,  a  wary, 
resolute,  hard-biting  dog  of  good  size  speedily 
gets  accustomed  to  the  chase,  and  can  kill  a 
peccary  single-handed,  seizing  it  from  behind 
and  worrying  it  to  death,  or  watching  its  chance 
and  grabbing  it  by  the  back  of  the  neck  where 
it  joins  the  head. 

Peccaries  have  delicately  moulded  short  legs, 
and  their  feet  are  small,  the  tracks  looking 
peculiarly  dainty  in  consequence.  Hence, 
they  do  not  swim  well,  though  they  take  to  the 
water  if  necessary.  They  feed  on  roots, 
prickly  pears,  nuts,  insects,  lizards,  etc.  They 
usually  keep  entirely  separate  from  the  droves 
of  half-wild  swine  that  are  so  often  found  in  the 
same  neighborhoods  ;  but  in  one  case,  on  this 
very  ranch  where  I  was  staying,  a  peccary 
deliberately  joined  a  party  of  nine  pigs  and 
associated  with  them.  When  the  owner  of 
the  pigs  came  up  to  them  one  day  the  peccary 
manifested  great  suspicion  at  his  presence, 
and  finally  sidled  close  up  and  threatened  to 
attack  him,  so  that  he  had  to  shoot  it.  The 
ranchman's  son  told  me  that  he  had  never  but 


150  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

once  had  a  peccary  assail  him  unprovoked, 
and  even  in  this  case  it  was  his  dog  that  was 
the  object  of  attack,  the  peccary  rushing  out 
at  it  as  it  followed  him  home  one  evening 
through  the  chaparral.  Even  around  this  ranch 
the  peccaries  had  very  greatly  decreased  in 
numbers,  and  the  survivors  were  learning  some 
caution.  In  the  old  days  it  had  been  no  un- 
common thing  for  a  big  band  to  attack  entire- 
ly of  their  own  accord,  and  keep  a  hunter  up  a 
tree  for  hours  at  a  time. 


a  UN  TING  WITH  HOUNDS.          151 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS. 

IN  hunting  American  big  game  with  hounds, 
several  entirely  distinct  methods  are  pur- 
sued. The  true  wilderness  hunters,  the  men 
who  in  the  early  days  lived  alone  in,  or  moved 
in  parties  through,  the  Indian-haunted  sol- 
itudes, like  their  successors  of  to-day,  rarely 
made  use  of  a  pack  of  hounds,  and,  as  a  rule, 
did  not  use  dogs  at  all.  In  the  eastern  for- 
ests occasionally  an  old  time  hunter  would 
own  one  or  two  track-hounds,  slow,  with  a  good 
nose,  intelligent  and  obedient,  of  use  mainly 
in  following  wounded  game.  Some  Rocky 
Mountain  hunters  nowadays  employ  the  same 
kind  of  a  dog,  but  the  old-time  trappers  of  the 
great  plains  and  the  Rockies  led  such  wander- 
ing lives  of  peril  and  hardship  that  they  could 
not  readily  take  dogs  with  them.  The  hunters 
of  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Adirondacks  have, 
however,  always  used  hounds  to  drive  deer, 
killing  the  animal  in  the  water  or  at  a  run- 
away. 

As  soon,  however,  as  the  old  wilderness 
hunter  type  passes  away,  hounds  come  into 
use  among  his  successors,  the  rough  border 
settlers  of  the  backwoods  and  the  plains. 


152  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Every  such  settler  is  apt  to  have  four  or  five 
large  mongrel  dogs  with  hound  blood  in  them, 
which  serve  to  drive  off  beasts  of  prey  from 
the  sheepfold  and  cattle-shed,  and  are  also 
used,  when  the  occasion  suits,  in  regular  hunt- 
ing, whether  after  bear  or  deer. 

Many  of  the  southern  planters  have  always 
kept  packs  of  fox-hounds,  which  are  used  in 
the  chase,  not  only  of  the  gray  and  the  red  fox, 
but  also  of  the  deer,  the  black  bear,  and  the 
wildcat.  The  fox  the  dogs  themselves  run 
down  and  kill,  but  as  a  rule  in  this  kind  of 
hunting,  when  after  deer,  bear,  or  even  wild- 
cat, the  hunters  carry  guns  with  them  on  their 
horses,  and  endeavor  either  to  get  a  shot  at 
the  fleeing  animal  by  hard  and  dexterous  rid- 
ing, or  else  to  kill  the  cat  when  treed,  or  the 
bear  when  it  comes  to  bay.  Such  hunting  is 
great  sport. 

Killing  driven  game  by  lying  in  wait  for  it 
to  pass  is  the  very  poorest  kind  of  sport  that 
can  be  called  legitimate.  This  is  the  way  the 
deer  is  usually  killed  with  hounds  in  the  East. 
In  the  North  the  red  fox  is  often  killed  in 
somewhat  the  same  manner,  being  followed  by 
a  slow  hound  and  shot  at  as  he  circles  before 
the  dog.  Although  this  kind  of  fox-hunting 
is  inferior  to  hunting  on  horseback,  it  never- 
theless has  its  merits,  as  the  man  must  walk 
and  run  well,  shoot  with  some  accuracy,  and 
show  considerable  knowledge  both  of  the 
country  and  of  the  habits  of  the  game. 

During  the  last  score  of  years  an  entirely 
different  type  of  dog  from  the  fox-hound  has 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.          153 

firmly  established  itself  in  the  field  of  Amer- 
ican sport.  This  is  the  greyhound,  whether 
the  smooth-haired,  or  the  rough-coated  Scotch 
deer-hound.  For  half  a  century  the  army 
officers  posted  in  the  far  West  have  occasion- 
ally had  greyhounds  with  them,  using  the  dogs 
to  course  jack-rabbit,  coyote,  and  sometimes 
deer,  antelope,  and  gray  wolf.  Many  of  them 
were  devoted  to  this  sport, — General  Custer, 
for  instance.  I  have  myself  hunted  with  many 
of  the  descendants  of  Custer's  hounds.  In 
the  early,  70*3  the  ranchmen  of  the  great  plains 
themselves  began  to  keep  greyhounds  for 
coursing  (as  indeed  they  had  already  been 
used  for  a  considerable  time  in  California, 
after  the  Pacific  coast  jack-rabbit),  and  the 
sport  speedily  assumed  large  proportions  and 
a  permanent  form.  Nowadays  the  ranchmen 
of  the  cattle  country  not  only  use  their  grey- 
hounds after  the  jack-rabbit,  but  also  after 
every  other  kind  of  game  animal  to  be  found 
there,  the  antelope  and  coyote  being  especial 
favorites.  Many  ranchmen  soon  grew  to  own 
fine  packs,  coursing  being  the  sport  of  all 
sports  for  the  plains.  In  Texas  the  wild  tur- 
key was  frequently  an  object  of  the  chase,  and 
wherever  the  locality  enabled  deer  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  the  open,  as  for  instance  in  the  In- 
dian territory,  and  in  many  places  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  large  plains  rivers,  the 
whitetail  was  a  favorite  quarry,  the  hunters 
striving  to  surprise  it  in  the  early  morning 
when  feeding  on  the  prairie. 

I  have  myself  generally  coursed  with  scratch 


154  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

packs,  including  perhaps  a  couple  of  grey- 
hounds, a  wire-haired  deer-hound,  and  two  or 
three  long-legged  mongrels.  However,  we 
generally  had  at  least  one  very  fast  and  sav- 
age dog — a  strike  dog — in  each  pack,  and  the 
others  were  of  assistance  in  turning  the  game, 
sometimes  in  tiring  it,  and  usually  in  helping 
to  finish  it  at  the  worry.  With  such  packs  I 
have  had  many  a  wildly  exciting  ride  over 
the  great  grassy  plains  lying  near  the  Little 
Missouri  and  the  Knife  and  Heart  rivers. 
Usually  our  proceedings  on  such  a  hunt  were 
perfectly  simple.  We  started  on  horseback 
and  when  reaching  favorable  ground  beat 
across  it  in  a  long  scattered  line  of  men  and 
dogs.  Anything  that  we  put  up.  from  a  fox 
to  a  coyote  or  a  prong-buck,  was  fair  game, 
and  was  instantly  followed  at  full  speed.  The 
animals  we  most  frequently  killed  were  jack- 
rabbits.  They  always  gave  good  runs,  though 
like  other  game  they  differed  much  individu- 
ally in  speed.  The  foxes  did  not  run  so 
well,  and  whether  they  were  the  little  swift,  or 
the  big  red  prairie  fox,  they  were  speedily 
snapped  up  if  the  dogs  had  a  fair  showing. 
Once  our  dogs  roused  a  blacktail  buck  close 
up  out  of  a  brush  coulie  where  the  ground  was 
moderately  smooth,  and  after  a  headlong  chase 
of  a  mile  they  ran  into  him,  threw  him,  and 
killed  him  before  he  could  rise.  (His  stiff- 
legged  bounds  sent  him  along  at  a  tremendous 
pace  at  first,  but  he  seemed  to  tire  rather 
easily  )  On  two  or  three  occasions  we  killed 
whitetail  deer,  and  several  times  antelope. 


HUNTING   WITH  HOUNDS.  155 

Usually,  however,  the  antelopes  escaped. 
The  bucks  sometimes  made  a  good  fight,  but 
generally  they  were  seized  while  running, 
some  dogs  catching  by  the  throat,  others  by 
the  shoulders,  and  others  again  by  the  flank 
just  in  front  of  the  hind-leg.  Wherever  the 
hold  was  obtained,  if  the  dog  made  his  spring 
cleverly,  the  buck  was  sure  to  come  down  with 
a  crash,  and  if  the  other  dogs  were  anywhere 
near  he  was  probably  killed  before  he  could 
rise,  although  not  infrequently  the  dogs  them- 
selves were  more  or  less  scratched  in  the  con- 
tests. Some  greyhounds,  even  of  high  breed- 
ing, proved  absolutely  useless  from  timidity, 
being  afraid  to  take  hold  ;  but  if  they  got  ac- 
customed to  the  chase,  being  worked  with  old 
dogs,  and  had  any  pluck  at  all,  they  proved 
singularly  fearless.  A  big  ninety-pound  grey- 
hound or  Scotch  deer-hound  is  a  very  formid- 
able fighting  dog ;  I  saw  one  whip  a  big  mas- 
tiff in  short  order,  his  wonderful  agility  being 
of  more  account  than  his  adversary's  superior 
weight. 

The  proper  way  to  course,  however,  is  to 
take  the  dogs  out  in  a  wagon  and  drive  them 
thus  until  the  game  is  seen.  This  prevents 
their  being  tired  out.  In  my  own  hunting,  most 
of  the  antelope  aroused  got  away,  the  dogs 
being  jaded  when  the  chase  began.  But  really 
fine  greyhounds,  accustomed  to  work  together 
and  to  hunt  this  species  of  game,  will  usually 
render  a  good  account  of  a  prong-buck  if  two 
or  three  are  slipped  at  once,  fresh,  and  within 
a  moderate  distance. 


156  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Although  most  Westerners  take  more  kindly 
to  the  rifle,  now  and  then  one  is  found  who  is 
a  devotee  of  the  hound.  Such  a  one  was  an 
old  Missourian,  who  may  be  called  Mr.  Cow- 
ley,  whom  I  knew  when  he  was  living  on  a 
ranch  in  North  Dakota,  west  of  the  Missouri. 
Mr.  Cowley  was  a  primitive  person,  of  much 
nerve,  which  he  showed  not  only  in  the  hunt- 
ing field  but  in  the  startling  political  conven- 
tions of  the  place  and  period.  He  was  quite 
well  off,  but  he  was  above  the  niceties  of  per- 
sonal vanity.  His  hunting  garb  was  that  in 
which  he  also  paid  his  rare  formal  calls — calls 
throughout  which  he  always  preserved  the 
gravity  of  an  Indian,  though  having  a  discon- 
certing way  of  suddenly  tip-toeing  across  the 
room  to  some  unfamiliar  object,  such  as  a 
peacock  screen  or  a  vase,  feeling  it  gently 
with  one  forefinger,  and  returning  with  noise- 
less gait  to  his  chair,  unmoved,  and  making 
no  comment.  On  the  morning  of  a  hunt  he 
would  always  appear  on  a  stout  horse,  clad  in 
a  long  linen  duster,  a  huge  club  in  his  hand, 
and  his  trousers  working  half-way  up  his  legs. 
He  hunted  everything  on  all  possible  occa- 
sions ;  and  he  never  under  any  circumstances 
shot  an  animal  that  the  dogs  could  kill.  Once 
when  a  skunk  got  into  his  house,  with  the 
direful  stupidity  of  its  perverse  kind,  he  turned 
the  hounds  on  it ;  a  manifestation  of  sporting 
spirit  which  aroused  the  ire  of  even  his  long- 
suffering  wife.  As  for  his  dogs,  provided 
they  could  run  and  fight,  he  cared  no  more 
for  their  looks  than  for  his  own  ;  he  preferred 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.  157 

the  animal  to  be  half  greyhound,  but  the  other 
half  could  be  fox-hound,  colley,  or  setter,  it 
mattered  nothing  to  him.  They  were  a  wicked, 
hardbiting  crew  for  all  that,  and  Mr.  Cowley, 
in  his  flapping  linen  duster,  was  a  first-class 
hunter  and  a  good  rider.  He  went  almost 
mad  with  excitement  in  every  chase.  His 
pack  usually  hunted  coyote,  fox,  jack-rabbit, 
and  deer;  and  I  have  had  more  than  one 
good  run  with  it. 

My  own  experience  is  too  limited  to  allow 
me  to  pass  judgment  with  certainty  as  to  the 
relative  speed  of  the  different  beasts  of  the 
chase,  especially  as  there  is  so  much  individ- 
ual variation.  I  consider  the  antelope  the 
fleetest  of  all  however ;  and  in  this  opinion  I 
am  sustained  by  Col.  Roger  D.  Williams,  of 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  who,  more  than  any 
other  American,  is  entitled  to  speak  upon 
coursing,  and  especially  upon  coursing  large 
game.  Col.  Williams,  like  a  true  son  of  Ken- 
tucky, has  bred  his  own  thoroughbred  horses 
and  thoroughbred  hounds  for  many  years ;  and 
during  a  series  of  long  hunting  trips  extending 
over  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  has  tried 
his  pack  on  almost  every  game  animal  to  be 
found  among  the  foot-hills  of  the  Rockies  and 
on  the  great  plains.  His  dogs,  both  smooth- 
haired  greyhounds  and  rough-coated  deer- 
hounds,  have  been  bred  by  him  for  generations 
with  a  special  view  to  the  chase  of  big  game 
— not  merely  of  hares ;  they  are  large  animals, 
excelling  not  only  in  speed  but  in  strength, 
endurance,  and  ferocious  courage.  The  sur* 


158  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

vivors  of  his  old  pack  are  literally  seamed  all 
over  with  the  scars  of  innumerable  battles. 
When  several  dogs  were  together  they  would 
stop  a  bull-elk,  and  fearlessly  assail  a  bear  or 
cougar.  This  pack  scored  many  a  triumph 
over  blacktail,  whitetail,  and  prong-buck. 
For  a  few  hundred  yards  the  deer  were  very 
fast;  but  in  a  run  of  any  duration  the  ante- 
lope showed  much  greater  speed,  and  gave  the 
dogs  far  more  trouble,  although  always  over- 
taken in  the  end,  if  a  good  start  had  been 
obtained.  Col.  Williams  is  a  firm  believer  in 
the  power  of  the  thoroughbred  horse  to  out- 
turn any  animal  that  breathes,  in  a  long  chase  ; 
he  has  not  infrequently  run  down  deer,  when 
they  were  jumped  some  miles  from  cover; 
and  on  two  or  three  occasions  he  ran  down 
uninjured  antelope,  but  in  each  case  only  after 
a  desperate  ride  of  miles,  which  in  one  in- 
stance resulted  in  the  death  of  his  gallant 
horse. 

This  coursing  on  the  prairie,  especially 
after  big  game,  is  an  exceedingly  manly  and 
attractive  sport ;  the  furious  galloping,  often 
over  rough  ground  with  an  occasional  deep 
washout  or  gully,  the  sight  of  the  gallant 
hounds  running  and  tackling,  and  the  exhilar- 
ation of  the  pure  air  and  wild  surrounding,  all 
combine  to  give  it  a  peculiar  zest.  But  there 
is  really  less  need  of  bold  and  skilful  horse- 
manship than  in  the  otherwise  less  attractive 
and  more  artificial  sport  of  fox-hunting,  or 
riding  to  hounds,  in  a  closed  and  long-settled 
country. 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.  159 

Those  of  us  who  are  in  part  of  southern 
blood  have  a  hereditary  right  to  be  fond  of 
cross-country  riding;  for  our  forefathers  in 
Virginia,  Georgia,  or  the  Carolinas,  have  for 
six  generations  followed  the  fox  with  horse, 
horn,  and  hound.  In  the  long-settled  North- 
ern States  the  sport  has  been  less  popular, 
though  much  more  so  now  than  formerly ;  yet 
it  has  always  existed,  here  and  there,  and  in 
certain  places  has  been  followed  quite 
steadily. 

In  no  place  in  the  Northeast  is  hunting  the 
wild  red  fox  put  on  a  more  genuine  and  healthy 
basis  than  in  the  Genesee  Valley,  in  central 
New  York.  There  has  always  been  fox-hunt- 
ing in  this  valley,  the  farmers  having  good 
horses  and  being  fond  of  sport  ;  but  it  was 
conducted  in  a  very  irregular,  primitive  man- 
ner, until  some  twenty  years  ago  Mr.  Austin 
Wadsworth  turned  his  attention  to  it.  He  has 
been  master  of  fox- hounds  ever  since,  and  no 
pack  in  the  country  has  yielded  better  sport 
than  his,  or  has  brought  out  harder  riders 
among  the  men  and  stronger  jumpers  among 
the  horses.  Mr.  Wadsworth  began  his  hunt- 
ing by  picking  up  some  of  the  various  trencher- 
fed  hounds  of  the  neighborhood,  the  hunting  of 
that  period  being  managed  on  the  principle  of 
each  farmer  bringing  to  the  meet  the  hound 
or  hounds  he  happened  to  possess,  and  ap- 
pearing on  foot  or  horseback  as  his  fancy  dic- 
tated. Having  gotten  together  some  of  these 
native  hounds  and  started  fox-hunting  in  local- 
ities where  the  ground  was  so  open  as  to 


160  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

necessitate  following  the  chase  on  horseback, 
Mr.  Wadsworth  imported  a  number  of  dogs 
from  the  best  English  kennels.  He  found 
these  to  be  much  faster  than  the  American 
dogs  and  more  accustomed  to  work  together, 
but  less  enduring,  and  without  such  good 
noses.  The  American  hounds  were  very 
obstinate  and  self-willed.  Each  wished  to 
work  out  the  trail  for  himself.  But  once 
found,  they  would  puzzle  it  out,  no  matter 
how  cold,  and  would  follow  it  if  necessary  for 
a  day  and  night.  By  a  judicious  crossing  of 
the  two  Mr.  Wadsworth  finally  got  his  present 
fine  pack,  which  for  its  own  particular  work 
on  its  own  ground  would  be  hard  to  beat. 
The  country  ridden  over  is  well  wooded,  and 
there  are  many  foxes.  The  abundance  of 
cover,  however,  naturally  decreases  the  num- 
ber of  kills.  It  is  a  very  fertile  land,  and 
there  are  few  farming  regions  more  beautiful, 
for  it  is  prevented  from  being  too  tame  in 
aspect  by  the  number  of  bold  hills  and  deep 
ravines.  Most  of  the  fences  are  high  posts- 
and-rails  or  "  snake  "  fences,  although  there  is 
an  occasional  stone  wall,  haha,  or  water-jump. 
The  steepness  of  the  ravines  and  the  density 
of  the  timber  make  it  necessary  for  a  horse  to 
be  sure-footed  and  able  to  scramble  anywhere, 
and  the  fences  are  so  high  that  none  but  very 
good  jumpers  can  possibly  follow  the  pack. 
Most  of  the  horses  used  are  bred  by  the  farm- 
ers in  the  neighborhood,  or  are  from  Canada5 
and  they  usually  have  thoroughbred  or  trot- 
ting-stock  blood  in  them. 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.  161 

One  of  the  pleasantest  days  I  ever  passed 
in  the  saddle  was  after  Mr.  Wads  worth's 
hounds.  I  was  staying  with  him  at  the  time, 
in  company  with  my  friend  Senator  Cabot 
Lodge,  of  Boston.  The  meet  was  about 
twelve  miles  distant  from  the  house.  It  was 
only  a  small  field  of  some  twenty-five  riders, 
but  there  was  not  one  who  did  not  mean 
going.  I  was  mounted  on  a  young  horse,  a 
powerful,  big-boned  black,  a  great  jumper, 
though  perhaps  a  trifle  hot-headed.  Lodge 
was  on  a  fine  bay,  which  could  both  run  and 
jump.  There  were  two  or  three  other  New 
Yorkers  and  Bostonians  present,  several  men 
•who  had  come  up  from  Buffalo  for  the  run,  a 
couple  of  retired  army  officers,  a  number  of 
farmers  from  the  neighborhood  ;  and  finally 
several  members  of  a  noted  local  family  of 
hard  riders,  who  formed  a  class  by  themselves, 
all  having  taken  naturally  to  every  variety 
of  horsemanship  from  earliest  infancy. 

It  was  a  thoroughly  democratic  assemblage  ; 
every  one  was  there  for  sport,  and  nobody 
cared  an  ounce  how  he  or  anybody  else  was 
dressed.  Slouch  hats,  brown  coats,  corduroy 
breeches,  and  leggings,  or  boots,  were  the 
order  of  the  day.  We  cast  off  in  a  thick 
wood.  The  dogs  struck  a  trail  almost  imme- 
diately and  were  off  with  clamorous  yelping, 
while  the  hunt  thundered  after  them  like  a 
herd  of  buffaloes.  We  went  headlong  down 
the  hill-side  into  and  across  a  brook.  Here 
the  trail  led  straight  up  a  sheer  bank.  Most 
of  the  riders  struck  off  to  the  left  for  an  easier 

XI 


1 62  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

place,  which  was  unfortunate  for  them,  for  the 
eight  of  us  who  went  straight  up  the  side  (one 
man's  horse  falling  back  with  him)  were  the 
only  ones  who  kept  on  terms  with  the  hounds. 
Almost  as  soon  as  we  got  to  the  top  of  the 
bank  we  came  out  of  the  woods  over  a  low 
but  awkward  rail  fence,  where  one  of  our 
number,  who  was  riding  a  very  excitable  sor- 
rel colt,  got  a  fall.  This  left  but  six,  including 
the  whip.  There  were  two  or  three  large  fields 
with  low  fences  ;  then  we  came  to  two  high, 
stiff  doubles,  the  first  real  jumping  of  the  day, 
the,  fences  being  over  four  feet  six,  and  so  close 
together  that  the  horses  barely  had  a  chance 
to  gather  themselves.  We  got  over,  however, 
crossed  two  or  three  stump-strewn  fields,  gal- 
loped through  an  open  wood,  picked  our  way 
across  a  marshy  spot,  jumped  a  small  brook 
and  two  or  three  stiff  fences,  and  then  came  a 
check.  Soon  the  hounds  recovered  the  line 
and  swung  off  to  the  right,  back  across  four  or 
five  fields,  so  as  to  enable  the  rest  of  the  hunt, 
by  making  an  angle,  to  come  up.  Then  we 
jumped  over  a  very  high  board  fence  into  the 
main  road,  out  of  it  again,  and  on  over 
ploughed  fields  and  grass  lands,  separated  by 
stiff  snake  fences.  The  run  had  been  fast  and 
the  horses  were  beginning  to  tail.  By  the 
time  we  suddenly  rattled  down  into  a  deep  ra- 
vine and  scrambled  up  the  other  side  through 
thick  timber  there  were  but  four  of  us  left, 
Lodge  and  myself  being  two  of  the  lucky  ones. 
Beyond  this  ravine  we  came  to  one  of  the 
worst  jumps  of  the  day,  a  fence  out  of  the 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.  163 

wood,  which  was  practicable  only  at  one  spot, 
where  a  kind  of  cattle  trail  led  up  to  a  panel. 
It  was  within  an  inch  or  two  of  five  feet 
high.  However,  the  horses,  thoroughly  trained 
to  timber  jumping  and  to  rough  and  hard 
scrambling  in  awkward  places,  and  by  this 
time  well  quieted,  took  the  bars  without  mis- 
take, each  one  in  turn  trotting  or  cantering  up 
to  within  a  few  yards,  then  making  a  couple  of 
springs  and  bucking  over  with  a  great  twist 
of  the  powerful  haunches.  I  may  explain 
that  there  was  not  a  horse  of  the  four  that 
had  not  a  record  of  five  feet  six  inches  in  the 
ring.  We  now  got  into  a  perfect  tangle  of 
ravines,  and  the  fox  went  to  earth  ;  and 
though  we  started  one  or  two  more  in  the 
course  of  the  afternoon,  we  did  not  get  another 
really  first-class  run. 

At  Geneseo  the  conditions  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  this  sport  are  exceptionally  favorable. 
In  the  Northeast  generally,  although  there  are 
now  a  number  of  well-established  hunts,  at 
least  nine  out  of  ten  runs  are  after  a  drag. 
Most  of  the  hunts  are  in  the  neighborhood  of 
great  cities,  and  are  mainly  kept  up  by  young 
men  who  come  from  them.  A  few  of  these 
are  men  of  leisure,  who  can  afford  to  devote 
their  whole  time  to  pleasure  ;  but  much  the 
larger  number  are  men  in  business,  who  work 
hard  and  are  obliged  to  make  their  sports  ac- 
commodate themselves  to  their  more  serious 
occupations.  Once  or  twice  a  week  they  can 
get  off  for  an  afternoon's  ride  across  country, 
and  they  then  wish  to  be  absolutely  certain  of 


1 64  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

having  their  run,  and  of  having  it  at  the 
appointed  time ;  and  the  only  way  to  insure 
this  is  to  have  a  drag-hunt.  It  is  not  the  lack 
of  foxes  that  has  made  the  sport  so  commonly 
take  the  form  of  riding  to  drag-hounds,  but 
rather  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  those  who 
keep  it  up  are  hard-working  business  men  who 
wish  to  make  the  most  out  of  every  moment 
of  the  little  time  they  can  spare  from  their 
regular  occupations.  A  single  ride  across 
country,  or  an  afternoon  at  polo,  will  yield 
more  exercise,  fun,  and  excitement  than  can 
be  got  out  of  a  week's  decorous  and  dull  rid- 
ing in  the  park,  and  many  young  fellows  have 
waked  up  to  this  fact. 

At  one  time  I  did  a  good  deal  of  hunting 
with  the  Meadowbrook  hounds,  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  Long  Island.  There  were  plenty 
of  foxes  around  us,  both  red  and  gray,  but 
partly  for  the  reasons  given  above,  and  partly 
because  the  covers  were  so  large  and  so  nearly 
continuous,  they  were  not  often  hunted,  al- 
though an  effort  was  always  made  to  have  one 
run  every  week  or  so  after  a  wild  fox,  in  order 
to  give  a  chance  for  the  hounds  to  be  properly 
worked  and  to  prevent  the  runs  from  becom- 
ing a  mere  succession  of  steeple-chases.  The 
sport  was  mainly  drag-hunting,  and  was  most 
exciting,  as  the  fences  were  high  and  the  pace 
fast.  The  Long  Island  country  needs  a  pecu- 
liar style  of  horse,  the  first  requisite  being 
that  he  shall  be  a  very  good  and  high  timber 
jumper.  Quite  a  number  of  crack  English 
and  Irish  hunters  have  at  different  times  been 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.  165 

imported,  and  some  of  them  have  turned  out 
pretty  well;  but  when  they  first  come  over 
they  are  utterly  unable  to  cross  our  country, 
blundering  badly  at  the  high  timber.  Few  of 
them  have  done  as  well  as  the  American 
horses.  I  have  hunted  half  a  dozen  times  in 
England,  with  the  Pytchely,  Essex,  and  North 
Warwickshire,  and  it  seems  to  me  probable 
that  English  thoroughbreds,  in  a  grass  coun- 
try, and  over  the  peculiar  kinds  of  obstacles 
they  have  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  would 
gallop  away  from  a  field  of  our  Long  Island 
horses ;  for  they  have  speed  and  bottom,  and 
are  great  weight  carriers.  But  on  our  own 
ground,  where  the  cross-country  riding  is  more 
like  leaping  a  succession  of  five  and  six-bar 
gates  than  anything  else,  they  do  not  as  a  rule, 
in  spite  of  the  enormous  prices  paid  for  them, 
show  themselves  equal  to  the  native  stock. 
The  highest  recorded  jump,  seven  feet  two 
inches,  was  made  by  the  American  horse  File- 
maker,  which  I  saw  ridden  in  the  very  front 
by  Mr.  H.  L.  Herbert,  in  the  hunt  at  Saga- 
more Hill,  about  to  be  described. 

When  I  was  a  member  of  the  Meadowbrook 
hunt,  most  of  the  meets  were  held  within  a 
dozen  miles  or  so  of  the  kennels :  at  Farm- 
ingdale,  Woodbury,  Wheatly,  Locust  Valley, 
Syosset,  or  near  any  one  of  twenty  other  queer, 
quaint  old  Long  Island  hamlets.  They  were 
almost  always  held  in  the  afternoon,  the  busi- 
ness men  who  had  come  down  from  the  city 
jogging  over  behind  the  hounds  to  the  ap- 
pointed place,  where  they  were  met  by  the 


1 66  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

men  who  had  ridden  over  direct  from  their 
country-houses.  If  the  meet  was  an  important 
one,  there  might  be  a  crowd  of  onlookers  in 
every  kind  of  trap,  from  a  four-in-hand  drag 
to  a  spider-wheeled  buggy  drawn  by  a  pair  of 
long-tailed  trotters,  the  money  value  of  which 
many  times  surpassed  that  of  the  two  best  hun- 
ters in  the  whole  field.  Now  and  then  a  break- 
fast would  be  given  the  hunt  at  some  country- 
house,  when  the  whole  day  was  devoted  to  the 
sport ;  perhaps  after  wild  foxes  in  the  morn- 
ing, with  a  drag  in  the  afternoon. 

After  one  meet,  at  Sagamore  Hill,  I  had  the 
curiosity  to  go  on  foot  over  the  course  we  had 
taken,  measuring  the  jumps  ;  for  it  is  very 
difficult  to  form  a  good  estimate  of  a  fence's 
height  when  in  the  field,  and  five  feet  of  tim- 
ber seems  a  much  easier  thing  to  take  when 
sitting  around  the  fire  after  dinner  than  it  does 
when  actually  faced  while  the  hounds  are  run- 
ning. On  the  particular  hunt  in  question  we 
ran  about  ten  miles,  at  a  rattling  pace,  with 
only  two  checks,  crossing  somewhat  more  than 
sixty  fences,  most  of  them  post-and-rails,  stiff 
as  steel,  the  others  being  of  the  kind  called 
"  Virginia  "  or  snake,  and  not  more  than  ten 
or  a  dozen  in  the  whole  lot  under  four  feet  in 
height.  The  highest  measured  five  feet  and 
half  an  inch,  two  others  were  four  feet  eleven, 
and  nearly  a  third  of  the  number  averaged 
about  four  and  a  half.  There  were  also  sev- 
eral rather  awkward  doubles.  When  the 
hounds  were  cast  off  some  forty  riders  were 
present,  but  the  first  fence  was  a  savage  one, 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.  167 

and  stopped  all  who  did  not  mean  genuine 
hard  going.  Twenty-six  horses  crossed  it, 
one  of  them  ridden  by  a  lady.  A  mile  or  so 
farther  on,  before  there  had  been  a  chance 
for  much  tailing,  we  came  to  a  five-bar  gate, 
out  of  a  road — a  jump  of  just  four  feet  five 
inches  from  the  take-off.  Up  to  this,  of 
course,  we  went  one  at  a  time,  at  a  trot  or 
hand-gallop,  and  twenty-five  horses  cleared  it 
in  succession  without  a  single  refusal  and  with 
but  one  mistake.  Owing  to  the  severity  of 
the  pace,  combined  with  the  average  height 
of  the  timber  (although  no  one  fence  was  of 
phenomenally  noteworthy  proportions),  a  good 
many  falls  took  place,  resulting  in  an  unusu- 
ally large  percentage  of  accidents.  The  mas- 
ter partly  dislocated  one  knee,  another  man 
broke  two  ribs,  and  another — the  present 
writer — broke  his  arm.  However,  almost  all 
of  us  managed  to  struggle  through  to  the  end 
in  time  to  see  the  death. 

On  this  occasion  I  owed  my  broken  arm  to 
the  fact  that  my  horse,  a  solemn  animal  origin- 
ally taken  out  of  a  buggy,  though  a  very  clever 
fencer,  was  too  coarse  to  gallop  alongside  the 
blooded  beasts  against  which  he  was  pitted. 
But  he  was  so  easy  in  his  gaits,  and  so  quiet, 
being  ridden  with  only  a  snaffle,  that  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  following  to  the  end  of 
the  run.  I  had  divers  adventures  on  this 
horse.  Once  I  tried  a  pair  of  so-called 
"  safety  "  stirrups,  which  speedily  fell  out,  and 
I  had  to  ride  through  the  run  without  any,  at 
the  cost  of  several  tumbles.  Much  the  best 


1 68  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

hunter  I  ever  owned  was  a  sorrel  horse  named 
Sagamore.  He  was  from  Geneseo,  was  fast, 
a  remarkably  good  jumper,  of  great  endurance, 
as  quick  on  his  feet  as  a  cat,  and  with  a  daunt- 
less heart.  He  never  gave  me  a  fall,  and 
generally  enabled  me  to  see  all  the  run. 

It  would  be  very  unfair  to  think  the  sport 
especially  dangerous  on  account  of  the  occa- 
sional accidents  that  happen.  A  man  who  is 
fond  of  riding,  but  who  sets  a  good  deal  of 
value,  either  for  the  sake  of  himself,  his 
family,  or  his  business,  upon  his  neck  and 
limbs,  can  hunt  with  much  safety  if  he  gets  a 
quiet  horse,  a  safe  fencer,  and  does  not  try  to 
stay  in  the  front  rank.  Most  accidents  occur 
to  men  on  green  or  wild  horses,  or  else  to 
those  who  keep  in  front  only  at  the  expense 
of  pumping  their  mounts  ;  and  a  fall  with  a 
done-out  beast  is  always  peculiarly  disagree- 
able. Most  falls,  however,  do  no  harm  what- 
ever to  either  horse  or  rider,  and  after  they 
have  picked  themselves  up  and  shaken  them- 
selves, the  couple  ought  to  be  able  to  go  on 
just  as  well  as  ever.  Of  course  a  man  who 
wishes  to  keep  in  the  first  flight  must  expect 
to  face  a  certain  number  of  tumbles ;  but  even 
he  will  probably  not  be  hurt  at  all,  and  he 
can  avoid  many  a  mishap  by  easing  up  his 
horse  whenever  he  can — that  is,  by  always 
taking  a  gap  wheri  possible,  going  at  the  lowest 
panel  of  every  fence,  and  not  calling  on  his 
animal  for  all  there  is  in  him  unless  it  cannot 
possibly  be  avoided.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  hard  riding  is  a  very  different  thing  from 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.          169 

good  riding ;  though  a  good  rider  to  hounds 
must  also  at  times  ride  hard. 

Cross-country  riding  in  the  rough  is  not  a 
difficult  thing  to  learn ;  always  provided  the 
would-be  learner  is  gifted  with  or  has  acquired 
a  fairly  stout  heart,  for  a  constitutionally  timid 
person  is  out  of  place  in  the  hunting  field.  A 
really  finished  cross-country  rider,  a  man  who 
combines  hand  and  seat,  heart  and  head,  is  of 
course  rare ;  the  standard  is  too  high  for  most 
of  us  to  hope  to  reach.  But  it  is  compara- 
tively easy  to  acquire  a  light  hand  and  a 
capacity  to  sit  fairly  well  down  in  the  saddle ; 
and  when  a  man  has  once  got  these,  he  will 
find  no  especial  difficulty  in  following  the 
hounds  on  a  trained  hunter. 

Fox-hunting  is  a  great  sport,  but  it  is  as 
foolish  to  make  a  fetish  of  it  as  it  is  to  decry  it. 
The  fox  is  hunted  merely  because  there  is  no 
larger  game  to  follow.  As  long  as  wolves, 
deer,  or  antelope  remain  in  the  land,  and  in  a 
country  where  hounds  and  horsemen  can  work, 
no  one  would  think  of  following  the  fox.  It 
is  pursued  because  the  bigger  beasts  of  the 
chase  have  been  killed  out.  In  England  it 
has  reached  its  present  prominence  only  within 
two  centuries ;  nobody  followed  the  fox  while 
the  stag  and  the  boar  were  common.  At  the 
present  day,  on  Exmoor,  where  the  wild  stag 
is  still  found,  its  chase  ranks  ahead  of  that  of 
the  fox.  It  is  not  really  the  hunting  proper 
which  is  the  point  in  fox-hunting.  It  is  the 
horsemanship,  the  galloping  and  jumping,  and 
the  being  out  in  the  open  air.  Very  naturally, 


170  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

however,  men  who  have  passed  their  lives  as 
fox-hunters  grow  to  regard  the  chase  and  the 
object  of  it  alike  with  superstitious  venera- 
tion. They  attribute  almost  mythical  charac- 
ters to  the  animal.  I  know  some  of  my  good 
Virginian  friends,  for  instance,  who  seriously 
believe  that  the  Virginia  red  fox  is  a  beast 
quite  unparalleled  for  speed  and  endurance 
no  less  than  for  cunning.  This  is  of  course  a 
mistake.  Compared  with  a  wolf,  an  antelope, 
or  even  a  deer,  the  fox's  speed  and  endurance 
do  not  stand  very  high.  A  good  pack  of 
hounds  starting  him  close  would  speedily  run 
into  him  in  the  open.  The  reason  that  the 
hunts  last  so  long  in  some  cases  is  because  of 
the  nature  of  the  ground  which  favors  the  fox 
at  the  expense  of  the  dogs,  because  of  his 
having  the  advantage  in  the  start,  and  because 
of  his  cunning  in  turning  to  account  every- 
thing which  will  tell  in  his  favor  and  against 
his  pursuers.  In  the  same  way  I  know  plenty 
of  English  friends  who  speak  with  bated 
breath  of  fox-hunting  but  look  down  upon  rid- 
ing to  drag-hounds.  Of  course  there  is  a 
difference  in  the  two  sports,  and  the  fun  of 
actually  hunting  the  wild  beast  in  the  one 
case  more  than  compensates  for  the  fact  that 
in  the  other  the  riding  is  apt  to  be  harder  and 
the  jumping  higher ;  but  both  sports  are  really 
artificial,  and  in  their  essentials  alike.  To 
any  man  who  has  hunted  big  game  in  a  wild 
country  the  stress  laid  on  the  differences  be- 
tween them  seems  a  little  absurd,  in  fact  cock- 
ney. It  is  of  course  nothing  against  either 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.  171 

that  it  is  artificial ;  so  are  all  sports  in  long- 
civilized  countries,  from  lacrosse  to  ice  yacht- 
ing. 

It  is  amusing  to  see  how  natural  it  is  for 
each  man  to  glorify  the  sport  to  which  he  has 
been  accustomed  at  the  expense  of  any  other. 
The  old-school  French  sportsman,  for  instance, 
who  followed  the  boar,  stag,  and  hare  with  his 
hounds,  always  looked  down  upon  the  chase 
of  the  fox  ;  whereas  the  average  Englishman 
not  only  asserts  but  seriously  believes  that  no 
other  kind  of  chase  can  compare  with  it,  al- 
though in  actual  fact  the  very  points  in  which 
the  Englishman  is  superior  to  the  continental 
sportsman — that  is,  in  hard  and  straight  riding 
and  jumping — are  those  which  drag-hunting 
tends  to  develop  rather  more  than  fox-hunt- 
ing proper.  In  the  mere  hunting  itself  the 
continental  sportsman  is  often  unsurpassed. 

Once,  beyond  the  Missouri,  I  met  an  ex- 
patriated German  baron,  an  unfortunate  who 
had  failed  utterly  in  the  rough  life  of  the 
frontier.  He  was  living  in  a  squalid  little 
hut,  almost  unfurnished,  but  studded  around 
with  the  diminutive  horns  of  the  European 
roebuck.  These  were  the  only  treasures  he 
had  taken  with  him  to  remind  him  of  his 
former  life,  and  he  was  never  tired  of  describ- 
ing what  fun  it  was  to  shoot  roebucks  when 
driven  by  the  little  crooked-legged  dachshunds. 
There  were  plenty  of  deer  and  antelope  round- 
about, yielding  good  sport  to  any  rifleman, 
but  this  exile  cared  nothing  for  them ;  they 
were  not  roebucks,  and  they  could  not  be 


172  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

chased  with  his  beloved  dachshunds.  So, 
among  my  neighbors  in  the  cattle  country,  is 
a  gentleman  from  France,  a  very  successful 
ranchman,  and  a  thoroughly  good  fellow  ;  he 
cares  nothing  for  hunting  big  game,  and  will 
not  go  after  it,  but  is  devoted  to  shooting 
cotton-tails  in  the  snow,  this  being  a  pastime 
having  much  resemblance  to  one  of  the  recog- 
nized sports  of  his  own  land. 

However,  our  own  people  afford  precisely 
similar  instances.  I  have  met  plenty  of  men 
accustomed  to  killing  wild  turkeys  and  deer 
with  small-bore  rifles  in  the  southern  forests 
who,  when  they  got  on  the  plains  and  in  the 
Rockies,  were  absolutely  helpless.  They  not 
only  failed  to  become  proficient  in  the  art  of 
killing  big  game  at  long  ranges  with  the  large- 
bore  rifle,  at  the  cost  of  fatiguing  tramps,  but 
they  had  a  positive  distaste  for  the  sport 
and  would  never  allow  that  it  equalled  their 
own  stealthy  hunts  in  eastern  forests.  So  I 
know  plenty  of  men,  experts  with  the  shot- 
gun, who  honestly  prefer  shooting  quail  in  the 
East  over  well-trained  setters  or  pointers,  to 
the  hardier,  manlier  sports  of  the  wilderness. 

As  it  is  with  hunting,  so  it  is  with  riding. 
The  cowboy's  scorn  of  every  method  of  riding 
save  his  own  is  as  profound  and  as  ignorant 
as  is  that  of  the  school  rider,  jockey,  or  fox- 
hunter.  The  truth  is  that  each  of  these  is 
best  in  his  own  sphere  and  is  at  a  disadvant- 
age when  made  to  do  the  work  of  any  of  the 
others.  For  all-around  riding  and  horseman- 
ship, I  think  the  West  Point  graduates  is 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.  173 

somewhat  ahead  of  any  of  them.  Taken  as 
a  class,  however,  and  compared  with  other 
classes  as  numerous,  and  not  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptional individuals,  the  cowboy,  like  the 
Rocky  Mountain  stage-driver,  has  no  supe- 
riors anywhere  for  his  own  work ;  and  they 
are  fine  fellows,  these  iron-nerved  reinsmen 
and  rough-riders. 

When  Buffalo  Bill  took  his  cowboys  to 
Europe  they  made  a  practice  in  England, 
France,  Germany,  and  Italy  of  offering  to 
break  and  ride,  in  their  own  fashion,  any  horse 
given  them.  They  were  frequently  given 
spoiled  animals  from  the  cavalry  services  in 
the  different  countries  through  which  they 
passed,  animals  with  which  the  trained  horse- 
breakers  of  the  European  armies  could  do 
nothing ;  and  yet  in  almost  all  cases  the  cow- 
punchers  and  bronco-busters  with  Buffalo  Bill 
mastered  these  beasts  as  readily  as  they  did 
their  own  western  horses.  At  their  own  work 
of  mastering  and  riding  rough  horses  they 
could  not  be  matched  by  their  more  civilized 
rivals  ;  but  I  have  great  doubts  whether  they 
in  turn  would  not  have  been  beaten  if  they 
had  essayed  kinds  of  horsemanship  utterly 
alien  to  their  past  experience,  such  as  riding 
mettled  thoroughbreds  in  a  steeple-chase,  or 
the  like.  Other  things  being  equal  (which, 
however,  they  generally  are  not),  a  bad,  big 
horse  fed  on  oats  offers  a  rather  more  diffi- 
cult problem  than  a  bad  little  horse  fed  on 
grass.  After  Buffalo  Bill's  men  had  returned, 
I  occasionally  heard  it  said  that  they  had 


174  HUNTING  THE  GRTSLY. 

tried  cross-country  riding  in  England,  and 
had  shown  themselves  pre-eminently  skilful 
thereat,  doing  better  than  the  English  fox- 
hunters,  but  this  I  take  the  liberty  to  disbe- 
lieve. I  was  in  England  at  the  time,  hunted 
occasionally  myself,  and  was  with  many  of 
the  men  who  were  all  the  time  riding  in  the 
most  famous  hunts ;  men,  too,  who  were 
greatly  impressed  with  the  exhibitions  of 
rough  riding  then  being  given  by  Buffalo  Bill 
and  his  men,  and  who  talked  of  them  much  ; 
and  yet  I  never,  at  the  time,  heard  of  an  in- 
stance in  which  one  of  the  cowboys  rode  to 
hounds  with  any  marked  success.1  In  the 
same  way  I  have  sometimes  in  New  York  or 
London  heard  of  men  who,  it  was  alleged,  had 
been  out  West  and  proved  better  riders  than 
the  bronco-busters  themselves,  just  as  I  have 
heard  of  similar  men  who  were  able  to  go  out 
hunting  in  the  Rockies  or  on  the  plains  and 
get  more  game  than  the  western  hunters ;  but 
in  the  course  of  a  long  experience  in  the  West 
I  have  yet  to  see  any  of  these  men,  whether 
from  the  eastern  States  or  from  Europe,  act- 
tually  show  such  superiority  or  perform  such 
feats. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  compare  the  per- 
formances of  the  Australian  stock-riders  with 
those  of  our  own  cowpunchers,  both  in  cow- 
work  and  in  riding.  The  Australians  have 
an  entirely  different  kind  of  saddle,  and  the 

1  It  is,  however,  quite  possible,  now  that  Buffalo  Bill's  company 
has  crossed  the  water  several  times,  that  a  number  of  the  cowboys 
have  by  practice  become  proficient  in  riding  to  hounds,  and  m 
eteeple-chasing. 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.  175 

use  of  the  rope  is  unknown  among  them.  A 
couple  of  years  ago  the  famous  western  rifle 
shot,  Carver,  took  some  cowboys  out  to  AUL 
tralia,  and  I  am  informed  that  many  of  the 
Australians  began  themselves  to  practise  with 
the  rope  after  seeing  the  way  it  was  used  by 
the  Americans.  An  Australian  gentleman, 
Mr.  A.  J.  Sage,  of  Melbourne,  to  whom  I  had 
written  asking  how  the  saddles  and  styles  of 
riding  compared,  answered  me  as  follows : 

"  With  regard  to  saddles,  here  it  is  a  moot 
question  which  is  the  better,  yours  or  ours,  for 
buck-jumpers.  Carver's  boys  rode  in  their 
own  saddles  against  our  Victorians  in  theirs, 
all  on  Australian  buckers,  and  honors  seemed 
easy.  Each  was  good  in  his  own  style,  but 
the  horses  were  not  what  I  should  call  really 
good  buckers,  such  as  you  might  get  on  a 
back  station,  and  so  there  was  nothing  in  the 
show  that  could  unseat  the  cowboys.  It  is 
only  back  in  the  bush  that  you  can  get  a 
really  good  bucker.  I  have  often  seen  one  of 
them  put  both  man  and  saddle  off." 

This  last  is  a  feat  I  have  myself  seen  per- 
formed in  the  West.  I  suppose  the  amount 
of  it  is  that  both  the  American  and  the 
Australian  rough  riders  are,  for  their  own 
work,  just  as  good  as  men  possibly  can  be. 

One  spring  I  had  to  leave  the  East  in  the 
midst  of  the  hunting  season,  to  join  a  round- 
up in  the  cattle  country  of  western  Dakota, 
and  it  was  curious  to  compare  the  totally  dif- 
ferent styles  of  riding  of  the  cowboys  and  the 
cross-country  men.  A  stock-saddle  weighs 


176  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

thirty  or  forty  pounds  instead  of  ten  or  fifteen 
and  needs  an  utterly  different  seat  from  that 
adopted  in  the  East.  A  cowboy  rides  with 
very  long  stirrups,  sitting  forked  well  down 
between  his  high  pommel  and  cantle,  and  de- 
pends upon  balance  as  well  as  on  the  grip  of 
his  thighs.  In  cutting  out  a  steer  from  a  herd, 
in  breaking  a  vicious  wild  horse,  in  sitting  a 
bucking  bronco,  in  stopping  a  night  stampede 
of  many  hundred  maddened  animals,  or  in  the 
performance  of  a  hundred  other  feats  of  reck- 
less and  daring  horsemanship,  the  cowboy  is 
absolutely  unequalled  ;  and  when  he  has  his 
own  horse  gear  he  sits  his  animal  with  the 
ease  of  a  centaur.  Yet  he  is  quite  helpless 
the  first  time  he  gets  astride  one  of  the  small 
eastern  saddles.  One  summer,  while  pur- 
chasing cattle  in  Iowa,  one  of  my  ranch  fore- 
men had  to  get  on  an  ordinary  saddle  to 
ride  out  of  town  and  see  a  bunch  of  steers. 
He  is  perhaps  the  best  rider  on  the  ranch, 
and  will  without  hesitation  mount  and  master 
beasts  that  I  doubt  if  the  boldest  rider  in  one 
of  our  eastern  hunts  would  care  to  tackle  ; 
yet  his  uneasiness  on  the  new  saddle  was 
fairly  comical.  At  first  he  did  not  dare  to 
trot,  and  the  least  plunge  of  the  horse  bid 
fair  to  unseat  him,  nor  did  he  begin  to  get 
accustomed  to  the  situation  until  the  very  end 
of  the  journey.  In  fact,  the  two  kinds  of 
riding  are  so  very  different  that  a  man  only 
accustomed  to  one,  feels  almost  as  ill  at  ease 
when  he  first  tries  the  other  as  if  he  had  never 
sat  on  a  horse's  back  before.  It  is  rather 


HUNTING  WITH  HOUNDS.        177 

funny  to  see  a  man  who  only  knows  one  kind, 
and  is  conceited  enough  to  think  that  that  is 
really  the  only  kind  worth  knowing,  when 
first  he  is  brought  into  contact  with  the  other. 
Two  or  three  times  I  have  known  men  try 
to  follow  hounds  on  stock-saddles,  which  are 
about  as  ill-suited  for  the  purpose  as  they  well 
can  be  ;  while  it  is  even  more  laughable  to 
see  some  young  fellow  from  the  East  or  from 
England  who  thinks  he  knows  entirely  too 
much  about  horses  to  be  taught  by  barbar- 
ians, attempt  in  his  turn  to  do  cow-work  with 
his  ordinary  riding  or  hunting  rig.  It  must 
be  said,  however,  that  in  all  probability 
cowboys  would  learn  to  ride  well  across 
country  much  sooner  than  the  average  cross- 
country rider  would  master  the  dashing  and 
peculiar  style  of  horsemanship  shown  by  those 
whose  life  business  is  to  guard  the  wandering 
herds  of  the  great  western  plains. 

Of  course,  riding  to  hounds,  like  all  sports 
in  long  settled,  thickly  peopled  countries, 
fails  to  develop  in  its  followers  some  of  the 
hardy  qualities  necessarily  incident  to  the 
wilder  pursuits  of  the  mountain  and  the  forest. 
While  I  was  on  the  frontier  I  was  struck  by 
the  fact  that  of  the  men  from  the  eastern 
States  or  from  England  who  had  shown  them- 
selves at  home  to  be  good  riders  to  hounds 
or  had  made  their  records  as  college  athletes, 
a  larger  proportion  failed  in  the  life  of  the 
wilderness  than  was  the  case  among  those 
who  had  gained  their  experience  in  such 
rough  pastimes  as  mountaineering  in  the  high 

ia 


1 78  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Alps,  winter  caribou-hunting  in  Canada,  or 
deer-stalking — not  deer-driving — in  Scotland. 
Nevertheless,  of  all  sports  possible  in  civ- 
ilized countries,  riding  to  hounds  is  perhaps 
the  best  if  followed  as  it  should  be,  for  the 
sake  of  the  strong  excitement,  with  as  much 
simplicity  as  possible,  and  not  merely  as  a 
fashionable  amusement.  It  tends  to  develop 
moral  no  less  than  physical  qualities  ;  the 
rider  needs  nerve  and  head  ;  he  must  possess 
daring  and  resolution,  as  well  as  a  good  deal 
of  bodily  skill  and  a  certain  amount  of  wiry 
toughness  and  endurance. 


WOLVES  AND   WOLF-HOUNDS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

WOLVES   AND   WOLF-HOUNDS. 

THE  wolf  is  the  arch  type  of  ravin,  the 
beast  of  waste  and  desolation.  It  is  still 
found  scattered  thinly  throughout  all  the 
wilder  portions  of  the  United  States,  but  has 
everywhere  retreated  from  the  advance  of 
civilization. 

Wolves  show  an  infinite  variety  in  color, 
size,  physical  formation,  and  temper.  Al- 
most all  the  varieties  intergrade  with  one 
another,  however,  so  that  it  is  very  difficult  to 
draw  a  hard  and  fast  line  between  any  two  of 
them.  Nevertheless,  west  of  the  Mississippi 
there  are  found  two  distinct  types.  One  is 
the  wolf  proper,  or  big  wolf,  specifically  akin  to 
the  wolves  of  the  eastern  States.  The  other 
is  the  little  coyote,  or  prairie  wolf.  The 
coyote  and  the  big  wolf  are  found  together  in 
almost  all  the  wilder  districts  from  the  Rio 
Grande  to  the  valleys  of  the  upper  Missouri 
and  the  upper  Columbia.  Throughout  this 
region  there  is  always  a  sharp  line  of  demark- 
ation,  especially  in  size,  between  the  coyottes 
and  the  big  wolves  of  any  given  district ;  but 
in  certain  districts  the  big  wolves  are  very 
much  larger  than  their  brethren  in  other  dis- 


X8o  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

tricts.  In  the  upper  Columbia  country,  for 
instance,  they  are  very  large  ;  along  the  Rio- 
Grande  they  are  small.  Dr.  Hart  Merriam 
informs  me  that,  according  to  his  experience, 
the  coyote  is  largest  in  southern  California. 
In  many  respects  the  coyote  differs  altogether 
in  habits  from  its  big  relative.  For  one  thing 
it  is  far  more  tolerant  of  man.  In  some  lo- 
calities coyotes  are  more  numerous  around 
settlements,  and  even  in  the  close  vicinity  of 
large  towns,  than  they  are  in  the  frowning  and 
desolate  fastnesses  haunted  by  their  grim 
elder  brother. 

Big  wolves  vary  far  more  in  color  than  the 
coyotes  do.  I  have  seen  white,  black,  red, 
yellow,  brown,  gray,  and  grizzled  skins,  and 
others  representing  every  shade  between,  al- 
though usually  each  locality  has  its  prevailing 
tint.  The  grizzled,  gray,  and  brown  often 
have  precisely  the  coat  of  the  coyote.  The 
difference  in  size  among  wolves  of  different 
localities,  and  even  of  the  same  locality,  is 
quite  remarkable,  and  so,  curiously  enough,  is 
the  difference  in  the  size  of  the  teeth,  in  some 
cases  even  when  the  body  of  one  wolf  is  as  big 
as  that  of  another.  I  have  seen  wolves  from 
Texas  and  New  Mexico  which  were  under- 
sized, slim  animals  with  rather  small  tusks,  in 
no  way  to  be  compared  to  the  long-toothed 
giants  of  their  race  that  dwell  in  the  heavily 
timbered  mountains  of  the  Northwest  and  in 
the  far  North.  As  a  rule,  the  teeth  of  the  co- 
yote are  relatively  smaller  than  those  of  the 
gray  wolf. 


WOLVES  AND  WOLFHOUNDS.       181 

Formerly  wolves  were  incredibly  abundant 
in  certain  parts  of  the  country,  notably  on  the 
great  plains,  where  they  were  known  as  buffalo 
wolves,  and  were  regular  attendants  on  the 
great  herds  of  the  bison.  Every  traveller  and 
hunter  of  the  old  days  knew  them  as  among 
the  most  common  sights  of  the  plains,  and 
they  followed  the  hunting  parties  and  emigrant 
trains  for  the  sake  of  the  scraps  left  in  camp. 
Now,  however,  there  is  no  district  in  which  they 
are  really  abundant.  The  wolfers,  or  profes- 
sional wolf-hunters,  who  killed  them  by  poison- 
ing for  the  sake  of  their  fur,  and  the  cattle- 
men, who  likewise  killed  them  by  poisoning 
because  of  their  raids  on  the  herds,  have  doubt- 
less been  the  chief  instruments  in  working  their 
decimation  on  the  plains.  In  the  '70*3,  and 
even  in  the  early  '8o's,  many  tens  of  thousands 
of  wolves  were  killed  by  the  wolfers  inMontana 
and  northern  Wyoming  and  western  Dakota. 
Nowadays  the  surviving  wolves  of  the  plains 
have  learned  caution ;  they  no  longer  move 
abroad  at  midday,  and  still  less  do  they  dream 
of  hanging  on  the  footsteps  of  hunter  and 
traveller.  Instead  of  being  one  of  the  most 
common  they  have  become  one  of  the  rarest 
sights  of  the  plains.  A  hunter  may  wander  far 
and  wide  through  the  plains  for  months  now- 
adays and  never  see  a  wolf,  though  he  will 
probably  see  many  coyotes.  However,  the 
diminution  goes  on,  not  steadily  but  by  fits  and 
starts,  and,  moreover,  the  beasts  now  and  then 
change  their  abodes,  and  appear  in  numbers 
in  places  where  they  have  been  scarce  for  a 


182  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

long  period.  In  the  present  winter  of  1892- 
'93  big  wolves  are  more  plentiful  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  my  ranch  than  they  have  been  for 
ten  years,  and  have  worked  some  havoc  among 
the  cattle  and  young  horses.  The  cowboys 
have  been  carrying  on  the  usual  vindictive 
campaign  against  them ;  a  number  have  been 
poisoned,  and  a  number  of  others  have  fallen 
victims  to  their  greediness,  the  cowboys  sur- 
prising them  when  gorged  to  repletion  on  the 
carcass  of  a  colt  or  calf,  and,  in  consequence, 
unable  to  run,  so  that  they  are  easily  ridden 
down,  roped,  and  then  dragged  to  death. 

Yet  even  the  slaughter  wrought  by  man  in 
certain  localities  does  not  seem  adequate  to 
explain  the  scarcity  or  extinction  of  wolves, 
throughout  the  country  at  large.  In  most 
places  they  are  not  followed  any  more  eagerly 
than  are  the  other  large  beasts  of  prey,  and 
they  are  usually  followed  with  less  success.  Of 
all  animals  the  wolf  is  the  shyest  and  hardest  to 
slay.  It  is  almost  or  quite  as  difficult  to  still- 
hunt  as  the  cougar,  and  is  far  more  difficult 
to  kill  with  hounds,  traps,  or  poison ;  yet  it 
scarcely  holds  its  own  as  well  as  the  great  cat, 
and  it  does  not  begin  to  hold  its  own  as  well 
as  the  bear,  a  beast  certainly  more  readily 
killed,  and  one  which  produces  fewer  young 
at  a  birth.  Throughout  the  East  the  black 
bear  is  common  in  many  localities  from  which 
the  wolf  has  vanished  completely.  It  at  pres- 
ent exists  in  very  scanty  numbers  in  northern 
.  Maine  and  the  Adirondacks ;  is  almost  or 
quite  extinct  in  Pennsylvania;  lingers  here 


WOLVES  AND  WOLF-HOUNDS.       183 

and  there  in  the  mountains  from  West  Virginia 
to  east  Tennessee,  and  is  found  in  Florida ;  but 
is  everywhere  less  abundant  than  the  bear.  It 
is  possible  that  this  destruction  of  the  wolves 
is  due  to  some  disease  among  them,  perhaps  to 
hydrophobia,  a  terrible  malady  from  which  it 
is  known  that  they  suffer  greatly  at  times. 
Perhaps  the  bear  is  helped  by  its  habit  of 
hibernating,  which  frees  it  from  most  dangers 
during  winter ;  but  this  cannot  be  the  com- 
plete explanation,  for  in  the  South  it  does  not 
hibernate,  and  yet  holds  its  own  as  well  as  in 
the  North.  What  makes  it  all  the  more  curi- 
ous that  the  American  wolf  should  disappear 
sooner  than  the  bear  is  that  the  reverse  is  the 
case  with  the  allied  species  of  Europe,  where 
the  bear  is  much  sooner  killed  out  of  the 
land. 

Indeed  the  differences  of  this  sort  between 
nearly  related  animals  are  literally  inexplicable. 
Much  of  the  difference  in  temperament  be- 
tween such  closely  allied  species  as  the  Amer- 
ican and  European  bears  and  wolves  is  doubt- 
less due  to  their  surroundings  and  to  the 
instincts  they  have  inherited  through  many 
generations;  but  for  much  of  the  variation  it 
is  not  possible  to  offer  any  explanation.  In 
the  same  way  there  are  certain  physical  dif- 
ferences for  which  it  is  very  hard  to  account, 
as  the  same  conditions  seem  to  operate  in 
directly  reverse  ways  with  different  animals. 
No  one  can  explain  the  process  of  natural 
selection  which  has  resulted  in  the  otter  of 
America  being  larger  than  the  otter  of  Europe, 


1 84  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

while  the  badger  is  smaller  ;  in  the  mink  being 
with  us  a  much  stouter  animal  than  its  Scan- 
dinavian and  Russian  kinsman,  while  the  re- 
verse is  true  of  our  sable  or  pine  marten.  No 
one  can  say  why  the  European  red  deer 
should  be  a  pigmy  compared  to  its  giant 
brother,  the  American  wapiti;  why  the  Old 
World  elk  should  average  smaller  in  size  than 
the  almost  indistinguishable  New  World 
moose  ;  and  yet  the  bison  of  Lithuania  and 
the  Caucasus  be  on  the  whole  larger  and  more 
formidable  than  its  American  cousin.  In  the 
same  way  no  one  can  tell  why  under  like  con- 
ditions some  game,  such  as  the  white  goat  and 
the  spruce  grouse,  should  be  tamer  than  other 
closely  allied  species,  like  the  mountain  sheep 
and  ruffed  grouse.  No  one  can  say  why  on 
the  whole  the  wolf  of  Scandinavia  and  north- 
ern Russia  should  be  larger  and  more  danger- 
ous than  the  average  wolf  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  while  between  the  bears  of  the 
same  regions  the  comparison  must  be  exactly 
reversed. 

The  difference  even  among  the  wolves  of 
different  sections  of  our  own  country  is  very 
notable.  It  may  be  true  that  the  species  as  a 
whole  is  rather  weaker  and  less  ferocious  than 
the  European  wolf  ;  but  it  is  certainly  not  true 
of  the  wolves  of  certain  localities.  The  great 
timber  wolf  of  the  central  and  northern  chains 
of  the  Rockies  and  coast  ranges  is  in  every 
way  a  more  formidable  creature  than  the  buf- 
falo wolf  of  the  plains,  although  they  inter- 
grade.  The  skins  and  skulls  of  the  wolves  of 


WOLVES  AND  WOLF-HOUNDS*       185 

north-western  Montana  and  Washington  which 
I  have  seen  were  quite  as  large  and  showed 
quite  as  stout  claws  and  teeth  as  the  skins  and 
skulls  of  Russian  and  Scandinavian  wolves, 
and  I  believe  that  these  great  timber  wolves 
are  in  every  way  as  formidable  as  their  Old 
World  kinsfolk.  However,  they  live  where 
they  come  in  contact  with  a  population  of  rifle- 
bearing  frontier  hunters,  who  are  very  different 
from  European  peasants  or  Asiatic  tribesmen ; 
and  they  have,  even  when  most  hungry,  a 
wholesome  dread  of  human  beings.  Yet  I 
doubt  if  an  unarmed  man  would  be  entirely  safe 
should  he,  while  alone  in  the  forest  in  mid- 
winter encounter  a  fair-sized  pack  of  ravenous- 
ly hungry  timber  wolves. 

A  full-grown  dog-wolf  of  the  northern  Rock- 
ies, in  exceptional  instances,  reaches  a  height 
of  thirty-two  inches  and  a  weight  of  130  pounds; 
a  big  buffalo  wolf  of  the  upper  Missouri  stands 
thirty  or  thirty-one  inches  at  the  shoulder  and 
weighs  about  no  pounds.  A  Texan  wolf  may 
not  reach  over  eighty  pounds.  The  bitch- 
wolves  are  smaller ;  and  moreover  there  is  of- 
ten great  variation  even  in  the  wolves  of  closely 
neighboing  localities. 

The  wolves  of  the  southern  plains  were  not 
often  formidable  to  large  animals,  even  in  the 
days  when  they  most  abounded.  They  rarely 
attacked  the  horses  of  the  hunter,  and  indeed 
were  but  little  regarded  by  these  experienced 
animals.  They  were  much  more  likely  to  gnaw 
off  the  lariat  with  which  the  horse  was  tied, 
than  to  try  to  molest  the  steed  himself.  They 


186  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

preferred  to  prey  on  young  animals,  or  on  the 
weak  and  disabled.  They  rarely  molested  a 
/ull-grown  cow  or  steer,  still  less  a  full-grown 
buffalo,  and,  if  they  did  attack  such  an  animal, 
it  was  only  when  emboldened  by  numbers.  In 
the  plains  of  the  upper  Missouri  and  Saskatch- 
ewan the  wolf  was,  and  is,  more  dangerous, 
while  in  the  northern  Rockies  his  courage  and 
feroc\ty  attain  their  highest  pitch.  Near  my 
own  ranch  the  wolves  have  sometimes  com- 
mitted great  depredations  on  cattle,  but  they 
seem  to  have  queer  freaks  of  slaughter.  Us- 
ually they  prey  only  upon  calves  and  sickly 
animals  ;  but  in  midwinter  I  have  known  one 
single-handed  to  attack  and  kill  a  well-grown 
steer  or  cow,  disabling  its  quarry  by  rapid 
snaps  at  the  hams  or  flanks.  Only  rarely  have 
I  known  it  to  seize  by  the  throat.  Colts  are 
likewise  a  favorite  prey,  but  with  us  wolves 
rarely  attack  full-grown  horses.  They  are 
sometimes  very  bold  in  their  assaults,  falling 
on  the  stock  while  immediately  around  the 
ranch  houses.  They  even  venture  into  the 
hamlet  of  Medora  itself  at  night — as  the  coy- 
otes sometimes  do  by  day.  In  the  spring  of 
'92  we  put  on  some  eastern  two-year-old  steers  ; 
they  arrived,  and  were  turned  loose  from  the 
stock-yards,  in  a  snowstorm,  though  it  was  in 
early  May.  Next  morning  we  found  that  one 
had  been  seized,  slain,  and  partially  devoured 
by  a  big  wolf  at  the  very  gate  of  the  stockyard ; 
probably  the  beast  had  seen  it  standing  near 
the  yard  after  nightfall,  feeling  miserable  after 
its  journey,  in  the  storm  and  its  unaccustomed 


WOLVES  AND  WOLFHOUNDS.       187 

surroundings,  and  had  been  emboldened  to 
make  the  assault  so  near  town  by  the  evident 
helplessness  of  the  prey. 

The  big  timber  wolves  of  the  northern  Rocky 
Mountains  attack  every  four-footed  beast  to  be 
found  where  they  live.  They  are  far  from 
contenting  themselves  with  hunting  deer  and 
snapping  up  the  pigs  and  sheep  of  the  farm. 
When  the  weather  gets  cold  and  food  scarce 
they  band  together  in  small  parties,  perhaps 
of  four  or  five  individuals,  and  then  assail  any- 
thing, even  a  bear  or  a  panther.  A  bull  elk 
or  bull  moose,  when  on  its  guard,  makes  a  most 
dangerous  fight ;  but  a  single  wolf  will  fre- 
quently master  the  cow  of  either  animal,  as  well 
as  domestic  cattle  and  horses.  In  attacking 
such  large  game,  however,  the  wolves  like  to 
act  in  concert,  one  springing  at  the  animal's 
head,  and  attracting  its  attention,  while  the 
other  hamstrings  it.  Nevertheless,  one  such 
big  wolf  will  kill  an  ordinary  horse.  A  man  I 
knew,  who  was  engaged  in  packing  into  the 
the  Cceur  d'Alenes,  once  witnessed  such  a  feat 
on  the  part  of  a  wolf.  He  was  taking  his  pack 
train  down  into  a  valley  when  he  saw  a  horse 
grazing  therein  ;  it  had  been  turned  loose  by 
another  packing  outfit,  because  it  became  ex- 
hausted. He  lost  sight  of  it  as  the  trail  went 
down  a  zigzag,  and  while  it  was  thus  out  of 
sight  he  suddenly  heard  it  utter  the  appalling 
scream,  unlike  and  more  dreadful  than  any 
other  sound,  which  a  horse  only  utters  in  ex- 
treme fright  or  agony.  The  scream  was  re- 
peated, and  as  he  came  in  sight  again  he  saw 


l88  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

that  a  great  wolf  had  attacked  the  horse.  The 
poor  animal  had  been  bitten  terribly  in  its 
haunches  and  was  cowering  upon  them, 
while  the  wolf  stood  and  looked  at  it  a  few 
paces  off.  In  a  moment  or  two  the  horse 
partially  recovered  and  made  a  desperate 
bound  forward,  starting  at  full  gallop.  Im- 
mediately the  wolf  was  after  it,  overhauled  it 
in  three  or  four  jumps,  and  then  seized  it  by 
the  hock,  while  its  legs  were  extended,  with 
such  violence  as  to  bring  it  completely  back 
on  its  haunches.  It  again  screamed  piteously ; 
and  this  time  with  a  few  savage  snaps  the  wolf 
hamstrung  and  partially  disembowelled  it,  and 
it  fell  over,  having  made  no  attempt  to  defend 
itself.  I  have  heard  of  more  than  one  incident 
of  this  kind.  If  a  horse  is  a  good  fighter, 
however,  as  occasionally,  though  not  often, 
happens,  it  is  a  most  difficult  prey  for  any  wild 
beast,  and  some  veteran  horses  have  no  fear 
of  wolves  whatsoever,  well  knowing  that  they 
can  cither  strike  them  down  with  their  fore- 
feet or  repulse  them  by  lashing  out  behind. 

Wolves  are  cunning  beasts  and  will  often 
try  to  lull  their  prey  into  unsuspicion  by  play- 
ing round  and  cutting  capers.  I  once  saw  a 
young  deer  and  a  wolf-cub  together  near  the 
hut  of  the  settler  who  had  captured  both.  The 
wolf  was  just  old  enough  to  begin  to  feel  vi- 
cious and  bloodthirsty,  and  to  show  symptoms 
of  attacking  the  deer.  On  the  occasion  in 
question  he  got  loose  and  ran  towards  it,  but 
it  turned,  and  began  to  hit  him  with  its  fore- 
feet* seemingly  in  sport ;  whereat  he  rolled 


WOLVES  AND  WOLF-HOUNDS.       189 

over  on  his  back  before  it,  and  acted  like  a 
puppy  at  play.  Soon  it  turned  and  walked 
off  ;  immediately  the  wolf,  with  bristling  hair, 
crawled  after,  and  with  a  pounce  seized  it  by 
the  haunch,  and  would  doubtless  have  mur- 
dered the  bleating,  struggling  creature,  had 
not  the  bystanders  interfered. 

Where  there  are  no  domestic  animals,  wolves 
feed  on  almost  anything  from  a  mouse  to  an 
elk.  They  are  redoubted  enemies  of  foxes. 
They  are  easily  able  to  overtake  them  in  fair 
chase,  and  kill  numbers.  If  the  fox  can  get 
into  the  underbrush,  however,  he  can  dodge 
around  much  faster  than  the  wolf,  and  so 
escape  pursuit.  Sometimes  one  wolf  will  try 
to  put  a  fox  out  of  a  cover  while  another  waits 
outside  to  snap  him  up.  Moreover,  the  wolf 
kills  even  closer  kinsfolk  than  the  fox.  When 
pressed  by  hunger  it  will  undoubtedly  some- 
times seize  a  coyote,  tear  it  in  pieces  and  de- 
vour it,  although  during  most  of  the  year  the 
two  animals  live  in  perfect  harmony.  I  once 
myself,  while  out  in  the  deep  snow,  came 
across  the  remains  of  a  coyote  that  had  been 
killed  in  this  manner.  Wolves  are  also  very 
fond  of  the  flesh  of  dogs,  and  if  they  get  a 
chance  promptly  kill  and  eat  any  dog  they  can 
master — and  there  are  but  few  that  they  can- 
not. Nevertheless,  I  have  been  told  of  one 
instance  in  which  a  wolf  struck  up  an  extraor- 
dinary friendship  with  a  strayed  dog,  and  the 
two  lived  and  hunted  together  for  many 
months,  being  frequently  seen  by  the  settlers 
4—7 


190  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

of  the  locality.     This  occurred  near  Thomp- 
son's Falls,  Montana. 

Usually  wolves  are  found  singly,  in  pairs,  or 
in  family  parties,  each  having  a  large  beat  over 
which  it  regularly  hunts,  and  also  at  times 
shifting  its  ground  and  travelling  immense  dis- 
tances in  order  to  take  up  a  temporary  abode 
in  some  new  locality — for  they  are  great 
wanderers.  It  is  only  under  stress  of  severe 
weather  that  they  band  together  in  packs. 
They  prefer  to  creep  on  their  prey  and  seize 
it  by  a  sudden  pounce,  but,  unlike  the  cougar, 
they  also  run  it  down  in  fair  chase.  Their 
slouching,  tireless  gallop  enables  them  often 
to  overtake  deer,  antelope,  or  other  quarry  ; 
though  under  favorable  circumstances,  espe- 
cially if  near  a  lake,  the  latter  frequently 
escape.  Whether  wolves  run  cunning  I  do 
not  know  ;  but  I  think  they  must,  for  coyotes 
certainly  do.  A  coyote  cannot  run  down  a 
jack-rabbit  ;  but  two  or  three  working  to- 
gether will  often  catch  one.  Once  I  saw  three 
start  a  jack,  which  ran  right  away  from  them  ; 
but  they  spread  out,  and  followed.  Pretty 
soon  the  jack  turned  slightly,  and  ran  near  one 
of  the  outside  ones,  saw  it,  became  much 
frightened,  and  turned  at  right  angles,  so  as 
soon  to  nearly  run  into  the  other  outside  one, 
which  had  kept  straight  on.  This  happened 
several  times,  and  then  the  confused  jack  lay 
down  under  a  sage-bush  and  was  seized.  So 
I  have  seen  two  coyotes  attempting  to  get  at 
a  newly  dropped  antelope  kid.  One  would 
make  a  feint  of  attack,  and  lure  the  dam  into 


WOLVES  AND  WOLF-HOUNDS.       191 

a  rush  at  him,  while  the  other  stole  round  to 
get  at  the  kid.  The  dam,  as  always  with 
these  spirited  little  prong-bucks,  made  a  good 
fight,  and  kept  the  assailants  at  bay  ;  yet  I 
think  they  would  have  succeeded  in  the  end, 
had  I  not  interfered.  Coyotes  are  bold  and 
cunning  in  raiding  the  settlers'  barn-yards  for 
lambs  and  hens  ;  and  they  have  an  especial 
liking  for  tame  cats.  If  there  are  coyotes  in 
the  neighborhood  a  cat  which  gets  into  the 
habit  of  wandering  from  home  is  surely  lost. 
Though,  I  have  never  known  wolves  to 
attack  a  man,  yet  in  the  wilder  portion  of  the 
far  Northwest  I  have  heard  them  come  around 
camp  very  close,  growling  so  savagely  as  to 
make  one  almost  reluctant  to  leave  the  camp 
fire  and  go  out  into  the  darkness  unarmed. 
Once  I  was  camped  in  the  fall  near  a  lonely 
little  lake  in  the  mountains,  by  the  edge  of 
quite  a  broad  stream.  Soon  after  nightfall 
three  or  four  wolves  came  around  camp  and 
.  kept  me  awake  by  their  sinister  and  dismal 
howling.  Two  or  three  times  they  came  so 
close  to  the  fire  that  I  could  hear  them  snap 
their  jaws  and  growl,  and  at  one  time  I  posi- 
tively thought  that  they  intended  to  try  to  get 
into  camp,  so  excited  were  they  by  the  smell 
of  the  fresh  meat.  After  a  while  they  stopped 
howling  ;  and  then  all  was  silent  for  an  hour 
or  so.  I  let  the  fire  go  out  and  was  turning 
into  bed  when  I  suddenly  heard  some  animal 
of  considerable  size  come  dowu  to  the  stream 
nearly  opposite  me  and  begin  to  splash  across, 
first  wading,  then  swimming.  It  was  pitch 


ig2  HUNTING  THE  GRTSLY. 

dark  and  I  could  not  possibly  see,  but  I  felt 
sure  it  was  a  wolf.  However  after  coming 
half-way  over  it  changed  its  mind  and  swam 
back  to  the  opposite  bank  ;  nor  did  I  see  or 
hear  anything  more  of  the  night  marauders. 

Five  or  six  times  on  the  plains  or  on  my 
ranch  I  have  had  shots  at  wolves,  always 
obtained  by  accident  and  always,  I  regret  to 
say,  missed.  Often  the  wolf  when  seen  was 
running  at  full  speed  for  cover,  or  else  was  so 
far  off  that  though  motionless  my  shots  went 
wide  of  it.  But  once  have  I  with  my  own  rifle 
killed  a  wolf,  and  this  was  while  travelling 
with  a  pack  train  in  the  mountains.  We  had 
been  making  considerable  noise,  and  I  never 
understood  how  an  animal  so  wary  permitted 
our  near  approach.  He  did,  nevertheless,  and 
just  as  we  came  to  a  little  stream  which  we 
were  to  ford  I  saw  him  get  on  a  dead  log 
some  thirty  yards  distant  and  walk  slowly  off 
with  his  eyes  turned  toward  us.  The  first 
shot  smashed  his  shoulders  and  brought  him 
down. 

The  wolf  is  one  of  the  animals  which  can 
only  be  hunted  successfully  with  dogs.  Most ' 
dogs  however  do  not  take  at  all  kindly  to  the 
pursuit.  A  wolf  is  a  terrible  fighter.  He  will 
decimate  a  pack  of  hounds  by  rabid  snaps 
with  his  giant  jaws  while  suffering  little  dam- 
age himself ;  nor  are  the  ordinary  big  dogs, 
supposed  to  be  fighting  dogs,  able  to  tackle 
him  without  special  training.  I  have  known 
one  wolf  to  kill  a  bulldog  which  had  rushed 
at  it  with  a  single  snap,  while  another  which 


WOLVES  AND  WOLF-HOUNDS.       193 

had  entered  the  yard  of  a  Montana  ranch 
house  slew  in  quick  succession  both  of  the 
large  mastiffs  by  which  it  was  assailed.  The 
immense  agility  and  ferocity  of  the  wild  beast, 
the  terrible  snap  of  his  long-toothed  jaws,  and 
the  admirable  training  in  which  he  always  is, 
give  him  a  great  advantage  over  fat,  small- 
toothed,  smooth-skinned  dogs,  even  though 
they  are  nominally  supposed  to  belong  to  the 
fighting  classes.  In  the  way  that  bench  com- 
petitions are  arranged  nowadays  this  is  but 
natural,  as  there  is  no  temptation  to  produce  a 
worthy  class  of  fighting  dog  when  the  rewards 
are  given  upon  technical  points  wholly  uncon- 
nected with  the  dog's  usefulness.  A  prize- 
winning  mastiff  or  bulldog  may  be  almost  use- 
less for  the  only  purposes  for  which  his  kind 
is  ever  useful  at  all.  A  mastiff,  if  properly 
trained  and  of  sufficient  size,  might  possibly 
be  able  to  meet  a  young  or  undersized  Texan 
wolf  ;  but  I  have  never  seen  a  dog  of  this 
variety  which  I  would  esteem  a  match  single- 
handed  for  one  of  the  huge  timber  wolves  of 
western  Montana.  Even  if  the  dog  was  the 
heavier  of  the  two,  his  teeth  and  claws  would 
be  very  much  smaller  and  weaker  and  his  hide 
less  tough.  Indeed  I  have  known  of  but  one 
dog  which  single-handed  encountered  and  slew 
a  wolf  ;  this  was  the  large  vicious  mongrel 
whose  feats  are  recorded  in  my  Hunting  Trips 
of  a  Ranchman. 

General  Marcy  of  the  United  States  Army 
informed  me  that  he  once  chased  a  huge  wolf 
which  had  gotten  away  with  a  small  trap  on 
'3 


194  HUNTING  THE  GRISLV, 

its  foot  It  was,  I  believe,  in  Wisconsin,  and 
he  had  twenty  or  thirty  hounds  with  him, 
but  they  were  entirely  untrained  to  wolf- 
hunting,  and  proved  unable  to  stop  the  crippled 
beast.  Few  of  them  would  attack  it  at  all, 
and  those  that  did  went  at  it  singly  and  with 
a  certain  hesitation,  and  so  each  in  turn  was 
disabled  by  a  single  terrible  snap,  and  left 
bleeding  on  the  snow.  General  Wade  Hamp- 
ton tells  me  that  in  the  course  of  his  fifty 
years'  hunting  with  horse  and  hound  in  Mis- 
sissippi, he  has  on  several  occasions  tried  his 
pack  of  fox-hounds  (southern  deer-hounds) 
after  a  wolf.  He  found  that  it  was  with  the 
greatest  difficulty,  however,  that  he  could  per- 
suade them  to  so  much  as  follow  the  trail. 
Usually,  as  soon  as  they  came  across  it,  they 
would  growl,  bristle  up,  and  then  retreat  with 
their  tails  between  their  legs.  But  one  of  his 
dogs  ever  really  tried  to  master  a  wolf  by 
itself,  and  this  one  paid  for  its  temerity  with 
its  life ;  for  while  running  a  wolf  in  a  cane- 
brake  the  beast  turned  and  tore  it  to  pieces. 
Finally  General  Hampton  succeeded  in  get- 
ting a  number  of  his  hounds  so  they  would 
at  any  rate  follow  the  trail  in  full  cry,  and 
thus  drive  the  wolf  out  of  the  thicket,  and 
give  a  chance  to  the  hunter  to  get  a  shot.  .  In 
this  way  he  killed  two  or  three. 

The  true  way  to  kill  wolves,  however,  is  to 
hunt  them  with  greyhounds  on  the  great 
plains.  Nothing  more  exciting  than  this  sport 
can  possibly  be  imagined.  It  is  not  always 
necessary  that  the  greyhounds  should  be  oi 


WOLVES  AND   WOLF-HOUNDS.       195 

absolutely  pure  blood.  Prize-winning  dogs 
of  high  pedigree  often  prove  useless  for  the 
purposes.  If  by  careful  choice,  however,  a 
ranchman  can  get  together  a  pack  composed 
both  of  the  smooth-haired  greyhound  and  the 
rough-haired  Scotch  deer-hound,  he  can  have 
excellent  sport.  The  greyhounds  sometimes 
do  best  if  they  have  a  slight  cross  of  bulldog 
in  their  veins  ;  but  this  is  not  necessary.  If 
once  a  greyhound  can  be  fairly  entered  to  the 
sport  and  acquires  confidence,  then  its  won- 
derful agility,  its  sinewy  strength  and  speed, 
and  the  terrible  snap  with  which  its  jaws  come 
together,  render  it  a  most  formidable  assail- 
ant. Nothing  can  possibly  exceed  the  gallan- 
try with  which  good  greyhounds,  when  their 
blood  is  up,  fling  themselves  on  a  wolf  or 
any  other  foe.  There  does  not  exist,  and 
there  never  has  existed  on  the  wide  earth,  a 
more  perfect  type  of  dauntless  courage  than 
such  a  hound.  Not  Gushing  when  he  steered 
his  little  launch  through  the  black  night 
against  the  great  ram  Albemarle,  not  Custer 
dashing  into  the  valley  of  the  Rosebud  to  die 
with  all  his  men,  not  Farragut  himself  lashed 
in  the  rigging  of  the  Hartford  as  she  forged 
past  the  forts  to  encounter  her  iron-clad  foe, 
can  stand  as  a  more  perfect  type  of  dauntless 
valor. 

Once  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  witness  a 
very  exciting  hunt  of  this  character  among  the 
foot-hills  of  the  northern  Rockies.  I  was 
staying  at  the  house  of  a  friendly  cowman, 
whom  I  will  call  Judge  Yancy  Stump.  Judge 


196  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Yancy  Stump  was  a  Democrat  who,  as  he 
phrased  it,  had  fought  for  his  Democracy; 
that  is,  he  had  been  in  the  Confederate 
Army.  He  was  at  daggers  drawn  with  his 
nearest  neighbor,  a  cross-grained  mountain 
farmer,  who  may  be  known  as  old  man 
Prindle.  Old  man  Prindle  had  been  in  the 
Union  Army,  and  his  Republicanism  was  of 
the  blackest  and  most  uncompromising  type. 
There  was  one  point,  however,  on  which  the 
two  came  together.  They  were  exceedingly 
fond  of  hunting  with  hounds.  The  Judge 
had  three  or  four  track-hounds,  and  four  of 
what  he  called  swift-hounds,  the  latter  includ- 
ing one  pure-bred  greyhound  bitch  of  won- 
derful speed  and  temper,  a  dun-colored  yelp- 
ing animal  which  was  a  cross  between  a  grey- 
hound and  a  fox-hound,  and  two  others  that 
were  crosses  between  a  greyhound  and  a  wire- 
haired  Scotch  deer-hound.  Old  man  Prindle's 
contribution  to  the  pack  consisted  of  two  im- 
mense brindled  mongrels  of  great  strength 
and  ferocious  temper.  They  were  unlike  any 
dogs  I  have  ever  seen  in  this  country.  Their 
mother  herself  was  a  cross  between  a  bull 
mastiff  and  a  Newfoundland,  while  the  father 
was  described  as  being  a  big  dog  that  be- 
longed to  a  "Dutch  Count."  The  "Dutch 
Count "  was  an  outcast  German  noble,  who 
had  drifted  to  the  West,  and,  after  failing  in 
the  mines  and  foiling  in  the  cattle  country, 
had  died  in  a  squalid  log  shanty  while  striv- 
ing to  eke  out  an  existence  as  a  hunter  among 
the  foot-hills.  His  dog,  I  presume,  from  the 


WOLVES  AND  WOLF-HOUNDS.       197 

description  given  me,  must  have  been  a  boar- 
hound  or  Ulm  dog. 

As  I  was  vo,ry  anxious  to  see  a  wolf-hunt 
the  Judge  volunteered  to  get  one  up,  and 
asked  old  man  Prindle  to  assist,  for  the  sake 
of  his  two  big  fighting  dogs  ;  though  the  very 
names  of  the  latter,  General  Grant  and  Old 
Abe,  were  gall  and  wormwood  to  the  unrecon- 
structed soul  of  the  Judge.  Still  they  were 
the  only  dogs  anywhere  around  capable  of 
tackling  a  savage  timber  wolf,  and  without 
their  aid  the  Judge's  own  high-spirited  animals 
ran  a  serious  risk  of  injury,  for  they  were  al- 
together too  game  to  let  any  beast  escape 
without  a  struggle. 

Luck  favored  us.  Two  wolves  had  killed 
a  calf  and  dragged  it  into  a  long  patch  of 
dense  brush  where  there  was  a  little  spring, 
the  whole  furnishing  admirable  cover  for  any 
wild  beast.  Early  in  the  morning  we  started 
on  horseback  for  this  bit  of  cover,  which  was 
some  three  miles  off.  The  party  consisted  of 
the  Judge,  old  man  Prindle,  a  cowboy,  myself, 
and  the  dogs.  The  judge  and  I  carried  our 
rifles  and  the  cowboy  his  revolver,  but  old 
man  Prindle  had  nothing  but  a  heavy  whip, 
for  he  swore,  with  many  oaths,  that  no  one 
should  interfere  with  his  big  dogs,  for  by 
themselves  they  would  surely  "  make  the  wolf 
feel  sicker  than  a  stuck  hog."  Our  shaggy 
ponies  racked  along  at  a  five-mile  gait  over 
the  dewy  prairie  grass.  The  two  big  dogs 
trotted  behind  their  master,  grim  and  fero- 
cious. The  track-hounds  were  tied  in  couples, 

4—7  B 


198  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

and  the  beautiful  greyhounds  loped  lightly  and 
gracefully  alongside  the  horses.  The  coun- 
try was  fine.  A  mile  to  our  right  a  small 
plains  river  wound  in  long  curves  between 
banks  fringed  with  cottonwoods.  Two  or 
three  miles  to  our  left  the  foot-hills  rose  sheer 
and  bare,  with  clumps  of  black  pine  and  cedar 
in  their  gorges.  We  rode  over  gently  rolling 
prairie,  with  here  and  there  patches  of  brush 
at  the  bottoms  of  the  slopes  around  the  dry 
watercourses. 

At  last  we  reached  a  somewhat  deeper  val- 
ley, in  which  the  wolves  were  harbored. 
Wolves  lie  close  in  the  daytime  and  will  not 
leave  cover  if  they  can  help  it ;  and  as  they 
had  both  food  and  water  within  we  knew  it 
was  most  unlikely  that  this  couple  would  be 
gone.  The  valley  was  a  couple  of  hundred 
yards  broad  and  three  or  four  times  as  long, 
filled  with  a  growth  of  ash  and  dwarf  elm  and 
cedar,  thorny  underbrush  choking  the  spaces 
between.  Posting  the  cowboy,  to  whom  he 
gave  his  rifle,  with  two  greyhounds  on  one 
side  of  the  upper  end,  and  old  man  Prindle 
with  two  others  on  the  opposite  side,  while  I 
was  left  at  the  lower  end  to  guard  against  the 
possibility  of  the  wolves  breaking  back,  the 
Judge  himself  rode  into  the  thicket  near  me 
and  loosened  the  track-hounds  to  let  them 
find  the  wolves'  trail.  The  big  dogs  also  were 
uncoupled  and  allowed  to  go  in  with  the 
hounds.  Their  power  of  scent  was  very  poor, 
but  they  were  sure  to  be  guided  aright  by  the 
baying  of  the  hounds,  and  their  presence 


WOLVES  AND  WOLF-HOUNDS.       ^99 

would  give  confidence  to  the  latter  and  make 
them  ready  to  rout  the  wolves  out  of  the 
thicket,  which  they  would  probably  have 
shrunk  from  doing  alone.  There  was  a  mo- 
ment's pause  of  expectation  after  the  Judge 
entered  the  thicket  with  his  hounds.  We  sat 
motionless  on  our  horses,  eagerly  looking 
through  the  keen  fresh  morning  air.  Then  a 
clamorous  baying  from  the  thicket  in  which 
both  the  horseman  and  dogs  had  disappeared 
showed  that  the  hounds  had  struck  the  trail 
of  their  quarry  and  were  running  on  a  hot 
scent.  For  a  couple  of  minutes  we  could  not 
be  quite  certain  which  way  the  game  was  go- 
ing to  break.  The  hounds  ran  zigzag  through 
the  brush,  as  we  could  tell  by  their  baying, 
and  once  some  yelping  and  a  great  row 
showed  that  they  had  come  rather  closer  than 
they  had  expected  upon  at  least  one  of  the 
wolves. 

In  another  minute,  however,  the  latter  found 
it  too  hot  for  them  and  bolted  from  the  thicket. 
My  first  notice  of  this  was  seeing  the  cowboy, 
who  was  standing  by  the  side  of  his  horse, 
suddenly  throw  up  his  rifle  and  fire,  while  the 
greyhounds  who  had  been  springing  high  in 
the  air,  half  maddened  by  the  clamor  in  the 
thicket  below,  for  a  moment  dashed  off  the 
wrong  way,  confused  by  the  report  of  the  gun. 
I  rode  for  all  I  was  worth  to  where  the  cow- 
boy stood,  and  instantly  caught  a  glimpse  of 
two  wolves,  grizzled-gray  and  brown,  which 
having  been  turned  by  his  shot  had  started 
straight  over  the  hill  across  the  plain  toward 


200  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

the  mountains  three  miles  away.  As  soon  as 
I  saw  them  I  saw  also  that  the  rearmost  of 
the  couple  had  been  hit  somewhere  in  the 
body  and  was  lagging  behind,  the  blood  run- 
ning from  its  flanks,  while  the  two  greyhounds 
were  racing  after  it ;  and  at  the  same  moment 
the  track-hounds  and  the  big  dogs  burst  out 
of  the  thicket,  yelling  savagely  as  they  struck 
the  bloody  trail.  The  wolf  was  hard  hit,  and 
staggered  as  he  ran.  He  did  not  have  a  hun- 
dred yards'  start  of  the  dogs,  and  in  less  than 
a  minute  one  of  the  greyhounds  ranged  up 
and  passed  him  with  a  savage  snap  that 
brought  him  too  ;  and  before  he  could  recover 
the  whole  pack  rushed  at  him.  Weakened  as 
he  was  he  could  make  no  effective  fight 
against  so  many  foes,  and  indeed  had  a  chance 
for  but  one  or  two  rapid  snaps  before  he  was 
thrown  down  and  completely  covered  by  the 
bodies  of  his  enemies.  Yet  with  one  of  these 
snaps  he  did  damage,  as  a  shrill  yell  told,  and 
in  a  second  an  over-rash  track-hound  came 
out  of  the  struggle  with  a  deep  gash  across 
his  shoulders.  The  worrying,  growling,  and 
snarling  were  terrific,  but  in  a  minute  the 
heaving  mass  grew  motionless  and  the  dogs 
drew  off,  save  one  or  two  that  still  continued 
to  worry  the  dead  wolf  as  it  lay  stark  and  stiff 
with  glazed  eyes  and  rumpled  fur. 

No  sooner  were  we  satisfied  that  it  was 
dead  than  the  Judge,  with  cheers  and  oaths 
and  crackings  of  his  whip,  urged  the  dogs 
after  the  other  wolf.  The  two  greyhounds 
that  had  been  with  old  man  Prindle  had  for* 


WOLVES  AND  WOLFHOUNDS.       201 

Innately  not  been  able  to  see  the  wolves  when 
they  first  broke  from  the  cover,  and  never  saw 
the  wounded  wolf  at  all,  starting  off  at  full 
speed  after  the  unwounded  one  the  instant  he 
topped  the  crest  of  the  hill.  He  had  taken 
advantage  of  a  slight  hollow  and  turned,  and 
now  the  chase ,  was  crossing  us  half  a  mile 
away.  With  whip  and  spur  we  flew  towards 
them,  our  two  greyhounds  stretching  out  in 
front  and  leaving  us  as  if  we  were  standing 
still,  the  track-hounds  and  big  dogs  running 
after  them  just  ahead  of  the  horses.  Fortu- 
nately the  wolf  plunged  for  a  moment  into  a 
little  brushy  hollow  and  again  doubled  back, 
and  this  gave  us  a  chance  to  see  the  end  of 
the  chase  from  nearby.  The  two  greyhounds 
which  had  first  taken  up  the  pursuit  were 
then  but  a  short  distance  behind.  Nearer 
they  crept  until  they  were  within  ten  yards, 
and  then  with  a  tremendous  race  the  little 
bitch  ran  past  him  and  inflicted  a  vicious  bite 
in  the  big  beast's  ham.  He  whirled  around 
like  a  top  and  his  jaws  clashed  like  those  of  a 
sprung  bear-trap,  but  quick  though  he  was 
she  was  quicker  and  just  cleared  his  savage 
rush.  In  another  moment  he  resumed  his 
flight  at  full  speed,  a  speed  which  only  that  of 
the  greyhounds  exceeded ;  but  almost  immedi- 
ately the  second  greyhound  ranged  along- 
side, and  though  he  was  not  able  to  bite,  be- 
cause the  wolf  kept  running  with  its  head 
turned  around  threatening  him,  yet  by  his 
feints  he  delayed  the  beast's  flight  so  that  in 
a  moment  or  two  the  remaining  couple  of 


202  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

swift  hounds  arrived  on  the  scene.  For  a 
moment  the  wolf  and  all  four  dogs  galloped 
along  in  a  bunch ;  then  one  of  the  greyhounds, 
watching  his  chance,  pinned  the  beast  cleverly 
by  the  hock  and  threw  him  completely  over. 
The  others  jumped  on  it  in  an  instant ;  but 
rising  by  main  strength  the  wolf  shook  himself 
free,  catching  one  dog  by  the  ear  and  tearing 
it  half  off.  Then  he  sat  down  on  his  haunches 
and  the  greyhounds  ranged  themselves  around 
him  some  twenty  yards  off,  forming  a  ring 
which  forbade  his  retreat,  though  they  them- 
selves did  not  dare  touch  him.  However 
the  end  was  at  hand.  In  another  moment 
Old  Abe  and  General  Grant  came  running  up 
at  headlong  speed  and  smashed  into  the  wolf 
like  a  couple  of  battering-rams.  He  rose  on 
his  hind-legs  like  a  wrestler  as  they  came  at 
him,  the  greyhounds  also  rising  and  bouncing 
up  and  down  like  rubber  balls.  I  could  just 
see  the  wolf  and  the  first  big  dog  locked  to- 
gether, as  the  second  one  made  good  his 
throat-hold.  In  another  moment  over  all  three 
tumbled,  while  the  greyhounds  and  one  or 
two  of  the  track-hounds  jumped  in  to  take 
part  in  the  killing.  The  big  dogs  more  than 
occupied  the  wolf's  attention  and  took  all  the 
punishing,  while  in  a  trice  one  of  the  grey- 
hounds, having  seized  him  by  the  hind-leg, 
stretched  him  out,  and  the  others  were  biting 
his  undefended  belly.  The  snarling  and  yel- 
ling of  the  worry  made  a  noise  so  fiendish 
that  it  was  fairly  bloodcurdling ;  then  it  grad- 
ually died  down,  and  the  second  wolf  lay  limp 


WOLVES  AND   WOLF-HOUNDS. 


203 


on  the  plain,  killed  by  the  dogs  unassisted. 
This  wolf  was  rather  heavier  and  decidedly 
taller  than  either  of  the  big  dogs,  with  more 
sinewy  feet  and  longer  fangs. 

I  have  several  times  seen  wolves  run  down 
and  stopped  by  greyhounds  after  a  break-neck 
gallop  and  a  wildly  exciting  finish,  but  this 
was  the  only  occasion  on  which  I  ever  saw 
the  dogs  kill  a  big,  full-grown  he-wolf  unaided. 
Nevertheless  various  friends  of  mine  own 
packs  that  have  performed  the  feat  again  and 
again.  One  pack,  formerly  kept  at  Fort  Ben- 
ton,  until  wolves  in  that  neighborhood  became 
scarce,  had  nearly  seventy-five  to  its  credit, 
most  of  them  killed  without  any  assistance 
from  the  hunter ;  killed  moreover  by  the  grey- 
hounds alone,  there  being  no  other  dogs  with 
the  pack.  These  greyhounds  were  trained  to 
the  throat-hold,  and  did  their  own  killing  in 
fine  style ;  usually  six  or  eight  were  slipped 
together.  General  Miles  informs  me  that  he 
once  had  great  fun  in  the  Indian  Territory 
hunting  wolves  with  a  pack  of  greyhounds. 
They  had  with  the  pack  a  large  stub-tailed 
mongrel,  of  doubtful  ancestry  but  most  un- 
doubted fighting  capacity.  When  the  wolf 
was  started  the  greyhounds  were  sure  to  over- 
take it  in  a  mile  or  two ;  they  would  then 
bring  it  to  a  halt  and  stand  around  it  in  a  ring 
until  the  fighting  dog  came  up.  The  latter 
promptly  tumbled  on  the  wolf,  grabbing  him 
anywhere,  and  often  getting  a  terrific  wound 
himself  at  the  same  time.  As  soon  as  he  had 
seized  the  wolf  and  was  rolling  over  with  him 


204  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

in  the  grapple  the  other  dogs  joined  in  the 
fray  and  dispatched  the  quarry  without  much 
danger  to  themselves. 

During  the  last  decade  many  ranchmen  in 
Colorado,  Wyoming,  and  Montana,  have  de- 
veloped packs  of  greyhounds  able  to  kill  a 
wolf  unassisted.  Greyhounds  trained  for  this 
purpose  always  seize  by  the  throat ;  and  the 
light  dogs  used  for  coursing  jack-rabbits  are 
not  of  much  service,  smooth  or  rough-haired 
greyhounds  and  deer-hounds  standing  over 
thirty  inches  at  the  shoulder  and  weighing 
over  ninety  pounds  being  the  only  ones  that, 
together  with  speed,  courage,  and  endurance, 
possess  the  requisite  power. 

One  of  the  most  famous  packs  in  the  West 
was  that  of  the  Sun  River  Hound  Club,  in 
Montana,  started  by  the  stockmen  of  Sun 
River  to  get  rid  of  the  curse  of  wolves  which 
infested  the  neighborhood  and  worked  very 
serious  damage  to  the  herds  and  flocks.  The 
pack  was  composed  of  both  greyhounds  and 
deerhounds,  the  best  being  from  the  kennels 
of  Colonel  Williams  and  of  Mr.  Van  Hummel, 
of  Denver;  they  were  handled  by  an  old 
plainsman  and  veteran  wolf-hunter  named 
Porter.  In  the  season  of  '86  the  astonishing 
number  of  146  wolves  were  killed  with  these 
dogs.  Ordinarily,  as  soon  as  the  dogs  seized 
a  wolf,  and  threw  or  held  it,  Porter  rushed  in 
and  stabbed  it  with  his  hunting-knife  ;  one 
day,  when  out  with  six  hounds,  he  thus  killed  no 
less  than  twelve  out  of  the  fifteen  wolves  start- 
ed, though  one  of  the  greyhounds  was 


WOLVES  AND   WOLF-HOUNDS*       205 

and  all  the  others  were  cut  and  exhausted. 
But  often  the  wolves  were  killed  without  his 
aid.  The  first  time  the  two  biggest  hounds 
— deer-hounds  or  wire-haired  greyhounds — • 
were  tried,  when  they  had  been  at  the  ranch 
only  three  days,  they  performed  such  a  feat. 
A  large  wolf  had  killed  and  partially  eaten  a 
sheep  in  a  corral  close  to  the  ranch  house, 
and  Porter  started  on  the  trail,  and  followed 
him  at  a  jog-trot  nearly  ten  miles  before  the 
hounds  sighted  him.  Running  but  a  few  rods, 
he  turned  viciously  to  bay,  and  the  two  great 
greyhounds  struck  him  like  stones  hurled  from 
a  catapult,  throwing  him  as  they  fastened  on 
his  throat ;  they  held  him  down  and  strangled 
him  before  he  could  rise,  two  other  hounds 
getting  up  just  in  time  to  help  at  the  end  of 
the  worry. 

Ordinarily,  however,  no  two  greyhounds  or 
deer-hounds  are  a  match  for  a  gray  wolf, 
but  I  have  known  of  several  instances  in  Col- 
orado, Wyoming,  and  Montana,  in  which  three 
strong  veterans  have  killed  one.  The  feat 
can  only  be  performed  by  big  dogs  of  the 
highest  courage,  who  all  act  together,  rush  in 
at  top  speed,  and  seize  by  the  throat ;  for  the 
strength  of  the  quarry  is  such  that  otherwise 
he  will  shake  off  the  dogs,  and  then  speedily 
kill  them  by  rabid  snaps  with  his  terribly 
armed  jaws.  Where  possible,  half  a  dozen 
dogs  should  be  slipped  at  once,  to  minimize 
the  risk  of  injury  to  the  pack ;  unless  this  is 
done,  and  unless  the  hunter  helps  the  dogs  in 
the  worry,  accidents  will  be  frequent,  and  an 


206  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

occasional  wolf  will  be  found  able  to  beat  off, 
maiming  or  killing,  a  lesser  number  of  assail- 
ants. Some  hunters  prefer  the  smooth  grey- 
hound, because  of  its  great  speed,  and  others 
the  wire-coated  animal,  the  rough  deer-hound, 
because  of  its  superior  strength  ;  both,  if  of 
the  right  kind,  are  dauntless  fighters. 

Colonel  Williams'  greyhounds  have  per- 
formed many  noble  feats  in  wolf-hunting.  He 
spent  the  winter  of  1875  in  the  Black  Hills, 
which  at  that  time  did  not  contain  a  single 
settler,  and  fairly  swarmed  with  game. 
Wolves  were  especially  numerous  and  very 
bold  and  fierce,  so  that  the  dogs  of  the  party 
were  continually  in  jeopardy  of  their  lives. 
On  the  other  hand  they  took  an  ample  ven- 
geance, for  many  wolves  were  caught  by  the 
pack.  Whenever  possible,  the  horsemen  kept 
close  enough  to  take  an  immediate  hand  in 
the  fight,  if  the  quarry  was  a  full-grown  wolf, 
and  thus  save  the  dogs  from  the  terrible  pun- 
ishment they  were  otherwise  certain  to  receive. 
The  dogs  invariably  throttled,  rushing  straight 
at  the  throat,  but  the  wounds  they  themselves 
received  were  generally  in  the  flank  or  belly ; 
in  several  instances  these  wounds  resulted 
fatally.  Once  or  twice  a  wolf  was  caught,  and 
held  by  two  greyhounds  until  the  horsemen 
came  up;  but  it  took  at  least  five  dogs  to 
overcome  and  slay  unaided  a  big  timber  wolf. 
Several  times  the  feat  was  performed  by  a 
party  of  five,  consisting  of  two  greyhounds, 
one  rough-coated  deer-hound,  and  two  cross- 
bloods  ;  and  once  by  a  litter  of  seven  young 


WOL  VES  A  ND   WOLF- HO  UNDS.       207 

greyhounds,    not     yet     come    to    their    full 
strength. 

Once  or  twice  the  so-called  Russian  wolf- 
hounds or  silky  coated  greyhounds,  the 
"  borzois,"  have  been  imported  and  tried  in 
wolf-hunting  on  the  western  plains  ;  but  hith- 
erto they  have  not  shown  themselves  equal,  at 
either  running  or  fighting,  to  the  big  American- 
bred  greyhounds  of  the  type  produced  by 
Colonel  Williams  and  certain  others  of  our  best 
western  breeders.  Indeed  I  have  never  known 
any  foreign  greyhounds,  whether  Scotch, 
English,  or  from  continental  Europe,  to  per- 
form such  feats  of  courage,  endurance,  and 
strength,  in  chasing  and  killing  dangerous 
game,  as  the  homebred  greyhounds  of  Colonel 
Williams. 


2o8  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

IN     COWBOY     LAND. 

OUT  on  the  frontier,  and  generally  among 
those  who  spend  their  lives  in,  or  on  the 
borders  of,  the  wilderness,  life  is  reduced  to 
its  elemental  conditions.  The  passions  and 
emotions  of  these  grim  hunters  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  wild  rough-riders  of  the  plains,  are 
simpler  and  stronger  than  those  of  people 
dwelling  in  more  complicated  states  of  society. 
As  soon  as  the  communities  become  settled 
and  begin  to  grow  with  any  rapidity,  the 
American  instinct  for  law  asserts  itself ;  but 
in  the  earlier  stages  each  individual  is  obliged 
to  be  a  law  to  himself  and  to  guard  his  rights 
with  a  strong  hand.  Of  course  the  transition 
periods  are  full  of  incongruities.  Men  have 
not  yet  adjusted  their  relations  to  morality  and 
law  with  any  niceness.  They  hold  strongly  by 
certain  rude  virtues,  and  on  the  other  hand 
they  quite  fail  to  recognize  even  as  shortcom- 
ings not  a  few  traits  that  obtain  scant  mercy 
in  older  communities.  Many  of  the  despera- 
does, the  man-killers,  and  road-agents  have 
good  sides  to  their  characters.  Often  they 
are  people  who,  in  certain  stages  of  civiliza- 
tion, do,  or  have  done,  good  work,  but  who, 


IN  COWBOY  LAND,  209 

when  these  stages  have  passed,  find  themselves 
surrounded  by  conditions  which  accentuate 
their  worst  qualities,  and  make  their  best  qual- 
ities useless.  The  average  desperado,  for  in- 
stance, has,  after  all,  much  the  same  standard 
of  morals  that  the  Norman  nobles  had  in  the 
days  of  the  battle  of  Hastings,  and,  ethically 
and  morally,  he  is  decidedly  in  advance  of  the 
vikings,  who  were  the  ancestors  of  these  same 
nobles — and  to  whom,  by  the  way,  he  himself 
could  doubtless  trace  a  portion  of  his  blood. 
If  the  transition  from  the  wild  lawlessness  of 
life  in  the  wilderness  or  on  the  border  to  a 
higher  civilization  were  stretched  out  over  a 
term  of  centuries,  he  and  his  descendants 
would  doubtless  accommodate  themselves  by 
degrees  to  the  changing  circumstances.  But 
unfortunately  in  the  far  West  the  transition 
takes  place  with  marvellous  abruptness,  and  at 
an  altogether  unheard-of  speed,  and  many  a 
man's  nature  is  unable  to  change  with  suffi- 
cient rapidity  to  allow  him  to  harmonize  with 
his  environment.  In  consequence,  unless  he 
leaves  for  still  wilder  lands,  he  ends  by  getting 
hung  instead  of  founding  a  family  which  would 
revere  his  name  as  that  of  a  very  capable,  al- 
though not  in  all  respects  a  conventionally 
moral,  ancestor. 

Most  of  the  men  with  whom  I  was  inti- 
mately thrown  during  my  life  on  the  frontier 
and  in  the  wilderness  were  good  fellows,  hard- 
working, brave,  resolute,  and  truthful.  At 
times,  of  course,  they  were  forced  of  necessity 
to  do  deeds  which  would  seem  startling  to 


210  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

dwellers  in  cities  and  in  old  settled  places ; 
and  though  they  waged  a  very  stern  and  re- 
lentless warfare  upon  evil-doers  whose  mis- 
deeds had  immediate  and  tangible  bad  results, 
they  showed  a  wide  toleration  of  all  save  the 
most  extreme  classes  of  wrong,  and  were  not 
given  to  inquiring  too  curiously  into  a  strong 
man's  past,  or  to  criticising  him  over-harshly 
for  a  failure  to  discriminate  in  finer  ethical 
questions.  Moreover,  not  a  few  of  the  men 
with  whom  I  came  in  contact — with  some  of 
whom  my  relations  were  very  close  and 
friendly — had  at  different  times  led  rather 
tough  careers.  This  fact  was  accepted  by 
them  and  by  their  companions  as  a  fact,  and 
nothing  more.  There  were  certain  offences, 
such  as  rape,  the  robbery  of  a  friend,  or  mur- 
der under  circumstances  of  cowardice  and 
treachery,  which  were  never  forgiven ;  but 
the  fact  that  when  the  country  was  wild  a 
young  fellow  had  gone  on  the  road — that  is, 
become  a  highwayman,  or  had  been  chief  of  a 
gang  of  desperadoes,  horse-thieves,  and  cattle- 
killers,  was  scarcely  held  to  weigh  against 
him,  being  treated  as  a  regrettable,  but  cer- 
tainly not  shameful,  trait  of  youth.  He  was 
regarded  by  his  neighbors  with  the  same 
kindly  tolerance  which  respectable  mediaeval 
Scotch  borderers  doubtless  extended  to  their 
wilder  young  men  who  would  persist  in  raid- 
ing English  cattle  even  in  time  of  peace. 

Of  course  if  these  men  were  asked  outright 
as  to  their  stories  they  would  have  refused 
to  tell  them  or  else  would  have  lied  about 


IN  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  2 1 1 

them;  but  when  they  had  grown  to  regard 
a  man  as  a  friend  and  companion  they  would 
often  recount  various  incidents  of  their  past 
lives  with  perfect  frankness,  and  as  they  com- 
bined in  a  very  curious  degree  both  a  decided 
sense  of  humor,  and  a  failure  to  appreciate 
that  there  was  anything  especially  remarkable 
in  what  they  related,  their  tales  were  always 
entertaining. 

Early  one  spring,  now  nearly  ten  years  ago, 
I  was  out  hunting  some  lost  horses.  They 
had  strayed  from  the  range  three  months  be- 
fore, and  we  had  in  a  roundabout  way  heard 
that  they  were  ranging  near  some  broken 
country,  where  a  man  named  Brophy  had  a 
ranch,  nearly  fifty  miles  from  my  own.  When 
I  started  thither  the  weather  was  warm,  but 
the  second  day  out  it  grew  colder  and  a  heavy 
snowstorm  came  on.  Fortunately  I  was  able 
to  reach  the  ranch  all  right,  finding  there  one 
of  the  sons  of  a  Little  Beaver  ranchman,  and 
a  young  cowpuncher  belonging  to  a  Texas 
outfit,  whom  I  knew  very  well.  After  putting 
my  horse  into  the  corral  and  throwing  him 
down  some  hay  I  strode  into  the  low  hut, 
made  partly  of  turf  and  partly  of  cottonwood 
logs,  and  speedily  warmed  myself  before  the 
fire.  We  had  a  good  warm  supper,  of  bread, 
potatoes,  fried  venison,  and  tea.  My  two 
companions  grew  very  sociable  and  began  to 
talk  freely  over  their  pipes.  There  were  two 
bunks  one  above  the  other.  I  climbed  into 
the  upper,  leaving  my  friends,  who  occupied 
the  lower,  sitting  together  on  a  bench  recount* 


212  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

ing  different  incidents  in  the  careers  of  them- 
selves and  their  cronies  during  the  winter  that 
had  just  passed.  Soon  one  of  them  asked 
the  other  what  had  become  of  a  certain  horse, 
a  noted  cutting  pony,  which  I  had  myself 
noticed  the  preceding  fall.  The  question 
aroused  the  other  to  the  memory  of  a  wrong 
which  still  rankled,  and  he  began  (I  alter  one 
or  two  of  the  proper  names)  : 

"  Why,  that  was  the  pony  that  got  stole. 
I  had  been  workin'  him  on  rough  ground 
when  I  was  out  with  the  Three  Bar  outfit  and 
he  went  tender  forward,  so  I  turned  him  loose 
by  the  Lazy  B  ranch,  and  when  I  come  back 
to  git  him  there  wasn't  anybody  at  the  ranch 
and  I  couldn't  find  him.  The  sheep-man  who 
lives  about  two  miles  west,  under  Red  Clay 
butte,  told  me  he  seen  a  fellow  in  a  wolfskin 
coat,  ridin'  a  pinto  bronco,  with  white  eyes, 
leadin*  that  pony  of  mine  just  two  days  be- 
fore ;  and  I  hunted  round  till  I  hit  his  trail 
and  then  I  followed  to  where  I  'd  reckoned  he 
was  headin'  for — the  Short  Pine  Hills.  When 
I  got  there  a  rancher  told  me  he  had  seen  the 
man  pass  on  towards  Cedartown,  and  sure 
enough  when  I  struck  Cedartown  I  found  he 
lived  there  in  a '  dobe  house,  just  outside  the 
town.  There  was  a  boom  on  the  town  and 
it  looked  pretty  slick.  There  was  two  hotels 
and  I  went  into  the  first,  and  I  says,  '  Where  7s 
the  justice  of  the  peace  ? '  says  I  to  the  bar- 
tender. 

"  '  There  ain't  no  justice  of  the  peace,' 
says  he/  the  justice  of  the  peace  got  shot.' 


IN  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  2 13 

"  *  Well,  where  's  the  constable  ?  '  says  I, 

"  *  Why,  it  was  him  that  shot  the  justice  of 
the  peace  1 '  says  he  ;  '  he's  skipped  the  coun- 
try with  a  bunch  of  horses.' 

"  <  Well,  ain't  there  no  officer  of  the  law  left 
in  this  town  ? '  says  I. 

"  *  Why,  of  course,'  says  he,  '  there  's  a  pro- 
bate judge  ;  he  is  over  tendin'  bar  at  the  Last 
Chance  Hotel' 

"  So  I  went  over  to  the  Last  Chance  Hotel 
and  I  walked  in  there.  'Mornin','  says  I. 

"  «  Mornin','  says  he. 

"  *  You  're  the  probate  judge  ? '  says  I. 

" «  That 's  what  I  am,'  says  he.  '  What  do 
you  want  ?  '  says  he. 

"  '  I  want  justice,'  says  I. 

"  *  What  kind  of  justice  do  you  want  ?  '  says 
he.  '  What  's  it  for  ? ' 

u  *  It  's  for  stealin'  a  horse,'  says  I. 

« «  Then  by  God  you  '11  git  it,'  says  he. 
*  Who  stole  the  horse  ? '  says  he. 

"  *  It  is  a  man  that  lives  in  a  'dobe  house, 
just  outside  the  town  there,'  says  I. 

"  '  Well,  where  do  you  come  from  your* 
self  ? '  said  he. 

"  From  Medory,'  said  I. 

"  With  that  he  lost  interest  and  settled  kind 
o'  back,  and  says  he,  '  There  won't  no  Cedar- 
town  jury  hang  a  Cedartown  man  for  stealin' 
a  Medory  man's  horse,'  said  he. 

"  '  Well,  what  am  I  to  do  about  my  horse  ?  ' 
says  I. 

"  *  Do  ?  '  says  he  ;  '  well,  you  know  where 
the  man  lives,  don't  you  ?  '  says  he  ; « then  sit 


HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

up  outside  his  house  to-night  and  shoot  him 
when  he  comes  in,'  says  he>  *  and  skip  out 
with  the  horse.' 

"  « All  right/  says  I,  'that  is  what  I  '11  do,' 
and  I  walked  off. 

"  So  I  went  off  to  his  house  and  I  laid  down 
behind  some  sage-brushes  to  wait  for  him. 
He  was  not  at  home,  but  I  could  see  his  wife 
movin'  about  inside  now  and  then,  and  I 
waited  and  waited,  and  it  growed  darker,  and 
I  begun  to  say  to  myself,  *  Now  here  you  are 
lyin'  out  to  shoot  this  man  when  he  comes 
home  ;  and  it 's  gettin'  dark,  and  you  don't 
know  him,  and  if  you  do  shoot  the  next  man 
that  comes  into  that  house,  like  as  not  it 
won't  be  the  fellow  you're  after  at  all,  but 
some  perfectly  innocent  man  a-comin'  there 
after  the  other  man's  wife  I ' 

"  So  I  up  and  saddled  the  bronc'  and  lit 
out  for  home,"  concluded  the  narrator  with 
the  air  of  one  justly  proud  of  his  own  self- 
abnegating  virtue. 

The  "  town "  where  the  judge  above- 
mentioned  dwelt  was  one  of  those  squalid, 
pretentiously  named  little  clusters  of  make- 
shift dwellings  which  on  the  edge  of  the  wild 
country  spring  up  with  the  rapid  growth  of 
mushrooms,  and  are  often  no  longer  lived. 
In  their  earlier  stages  these  towns  are  fre- 
quently built  entirely  of  canvas,  and  are  sub- 
ject to  grotesque  calamities.  When  the  terri- 
tory purchased  from  the  Sioux,  in  the  Dakotas, 
a  couple  of  years  ago,  was  thrown  open  to 
settlement,  there  was  a  furious  inrush  of  men 


IN  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  215 

on  horseback  and  in  wagons,  and  various  am- 
bitious cities  sprang  up  overnight.  The  new 
settlers  were  all  under  the  influence  of  that 
curious  craze  which  causes  every  true  western- 
er to  put  unlimited  faith  in  the  unknown  and 
untried  ;  many  had  left  all  they  had  in  a  far 
better  farming  country,  because  they  were  true 
to  their  immemorial  belief  that,  wherever  they 
were,  their  luck  would  be  better  if  they  went 
somewhere  else.  They  were  always  on  the 
move,  and  headed  for  the  vague  beyond.  As 
miners  see  visions  of  all  the  famous  mines  of 
history  in  each  new  camp,  so  these  would-be 
city  founders  saw  future  St.  Pauls  and  Oma- 
has  in  every  forlorn  group  of  tents  pitched  by 
some  muddy  stream  in  a  desert  of  gumbo  and 
sage-brush  ;  and  they  named  both  the  towns 
and  the  canvas  buildings  in  accordance  with 
their  bright  hopes  for  the  morrow,  rather 
than  with  reference  to  the  mean  facts  of  the 
day.  One  of  these  towns,  which  when  twenty- 
four  hours  old  boasted  of  six  saloons,  a  "  court- 
house," and  an  "  opera  house,"  was  over- 
whelmed by  early  disaster.  The  third  day 
of  its  life  a  whirlwind  came  along  and  took 
off  the  opera  house  and  half  the  saloons  ; 
and  the  following  evening  lawless  men  nearly 
finished  the  work  of  the  elements.  The  riders 
of  a  huge  trail-outfit  from  Texas,  to  their  glad 
surprise  discovered  the  town  and  abandoned 
themselves  to  a  night  of  roaring  and  lethal 
carousal.  Next  morning  the  city  authorities 
were  lamenting,  with  oaths  of  bitter  rage,  that 
"  them  hell-and-twenty  Flying  A  cowpunchers 


216  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

had  cut  the  court-house  up  into  pants."  It 
was  true.  The  cowboys  were  in  need  of 
shaps,  and  with  an  admirable  mixture  of  ad- 
venturousness,  frugality,  and  ready  adapta- 
bility to  circumstances,  had  made  substitutes 
therefor  in  the  shape  of  canvas  overalls,  cut 
from  the  roof  and  walls  of  the  shaky  temple 
of  justice. 

One  of  my  valued  friends  in  the  mountains, 
and  one  of  the  best  hunters  with  whom  I  ever 
travelled,  was  a  man  who  had  a  peculiarly 
light-hearted  way  of  looking  at  conventional 
social  obligations.  Though  in  some  ways  a 
true  backwoods  Donatello,  he  was  a  man  of 
much  shrewdness  and  of  great  courage  and 
resolution.  Moreover,  he  possessed  what 
only  a  few  men  do  possess,  the  capacity  to 
tell  the  truth.  He  saw  facts  as  they  were, 
and  could  tell  them  as  they  were,  and  he  never 
told  an  untruth  unless  for  very  weighty 
reasons.  He  was  pre-eminently  a  philoso- 
pher, of  a  happy,  sceptical  turn  of  mind.  He 
had  no  prejudices.  He  never  looked  down, 
as  so  many  hard  characters  do,  upon  a  per- 
son possessing  a  different  code  of  ethics. 
His  attitude  was  one  of  broad,  genial  toler* 
ance.  He  saw  nothing  out  of  the  way  in  the 
fact  that  he  had  himself  been  a  road-agent, 
a  professional  gambler,  and  a  desperado  at 
different  stages  of  his  career.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  did  not  in  the  least  hold  it  against 
any  one  that  he  had  always  acted  within  the 
law.  At  the  time  that  I  knew  him  he  had 
become  a  man  of  some  substance,  and 


IN*  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  2 1 7 

naturally  a  staunch  upholder  of  the  existing 
order  of  things.  But  while  he  never  boasted 
of  his  past  deeds,  he  never  apologized  for 
them,  and  evidently  would  have  been  quite 
as  incapable  of  understanding  that  they 
needed  an  apology  as  he  would  have  been  in- 
capable of  being  guilty  of  mere  vulgar  boast- 
fulness.  He  did  not  often  allude  to  his 
past  career  at  all.  When  he  did,  he  recited 
its  incidents  perfectly  naturally  and  simply, 
as  events,  without  any  reference  to  or  regard 
for  their  ethical  significance.  It  was  this 
quality  which  made  him  at  times  a  specially 
pleasant  companion,  and  always  an  agreeable 
narrator.  The  point  of  his  story,  or  what 
seemed  to  him  the  point,  was  rarely  that  which 
struck  me.  It  was  the  incidental  sidelights 
the  story  threw  upon  his  own  nature  and  the 
somewhat  lurid  surroundings  amid  which  he 
had  moved. 

On  one  occasion  when  we  were  out  to- 
gether we  killed  a  bear,  and  after  skinning  it, 
took  a  bath  in  a  lake.  I  noticed  he  had  a 
scar  on  the  side  of  his  foot  and  asked  him 
how  he  got  it,  to  which  he  responded,  with  in- 
difference : 

"  Oh,  that  ?  Why,  a  man  shootin*  at  me  to 
make  me  dance,  that  was  all." 

I  expressed  some  curiosity  in  the  matter, 
and  he  went  on  : 

"Well,  the  way  of  it  was  this:  It  was 
when  I  was  keeping  a  saloon  in  New  Mexico, 
and  there  was  a  man  there  by  the  name  of 


218  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

Fowler,  and  there  was  a  reward  on  him  of 
three  thousand  dollars " 

"  Put  on  him  by  the  State  ?  " 

"  No,  put  on  by  his  wife,"  said  my  friend  ; 
"  and  there  was  this " 

"  Hold  on,"  I  interrupted  ;  "  put  on  by  his 
wife  did  you  say  ?  " 

"  Yes,  by  his  wife.  Him  and  her  had  been 
keepin'  a  faro  bank,  you  see,  and  they  quar- 
relled about  it,'  so  she  just  put  a  reward  on 
him,  and  so " 

"  Excuse  me,"  I  said,  "  but  do  you  mean  to 
say  that  this  reward  was  put  on  publicly  ?  "  to 
which  my  friend  answered,  with  an  air  of  gen- 
tlemanly boredom  at  being  interrupted  to 
gratify  my  thirst  for  irrelevant  detail : 

"  Oh,  no,  not  publicly.  She  just  mentioned 
it  to  six  or  eight  intimate  personal  friends." 

"  Go  on,"  I  responded,  somewhat  overcome 
by  this  instance  of  the  primitive  simplicity 
with  which  New  Mexican  matrimonial  disputes 
were  managed,  and  he  continued : 

"  Well,  two  men  come  ridin'  in  to  see  me  to 
borrow  my  guns.  My  guns  was  Colt's  self- 
cockers.  It  was  a  new  thing  then,  and  they 
was  the  only  ones  in  town.  These  come  to 
me,  and  '  Simpson/  says  they,  '  we  want  to 
borrow  your  guns  ;  we  are  goin'  to  kill  Fowler.' 

" '  Hold  on  for  a  moment,'  said  I,  *  I  am 
willin'  to  lend  you  them  guns,  but  I  ain't  go- 
in'  to  know  what  you  'r'  goin'  to  do  with 
them,  no  sir ;  but  of  course  you  can  have  the 
guns.'  "  Here  my  friend's  face  lightened 
pleasantly,  and  he  continued : 


IN  CO  WBO  Y  LAND,  2 19 

"  Well,  you  may  easily  believe  I  felt  sur- 
prised next  day  when  Fowler  come  ridin'  in, 
and,  says  he,  *  Simpson,  here's  your  guns ! ' 
He  had  shot  them  two  men  !  '  Well,  Fowler,7 
says  I,  *  if  I  had  known  them  men  was  after 
you,  I  'd  never  have  let  them  have  them  guns 
nohow/  says  I.  That  was  n't  true,  for  I  did 
know  it,  but  there  was  no  cause  to  tell  him 
that."  I  murmured  my  approval  of  such 
prudence,  and  Simpson  continued,  his  eyes 
gradually  brightening  with  the  light  of  agree- 
able reminiscence  : 

"  Well,  they  up  and  they  took  Fowler  before 
the  justice  of  the  peace.  The  justice  of  the 
peace  was  a  Turk." 

"  Now,  Simpson,  what  do  you  mean  by 
that  ?  "  I  interrupted  : 

"  Well,  he  come  from  Turkey,"  said  Simp- 
son, and  I  again  sank  back,  wondering  briefly 
what  particular  variety  of  Mediterranean  out- 
cast had  drifted  down  to  New  Mexico  to  be 
made  a  justice  of  the  peace.  Simpson  laughed 
and  continued : 

"That  Fowler  was  a  funny  fellow.  The 
Turk,  he  committed  Fowler,  and  Fowler,  he 
riz  up  and  knocked  him  down  and  tromped 
all  over  him  and  made  him  let  him  go  I  " 

"  That  was  an  appeal  to  a  higher  law,"  I 
observed.  Simpson  assented  cheerily,  and 
continued : 

"  Well,  that  Turk,  he  got  nervous  for  fear 
Fowler  he  was  goin'  to  kill  him,  and  so  he 
comes  to  me  and  offers  me  twenty-five  dollars 
a  day  to  protect  him  from  Fowler ;  and  I  went 


220  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

to  Fowler,  and  '  Fowler,'  says  I,  c  that  Turk  's 
offered  me  twenty-five  dollars  a  day  to  protect 
him  from  you.  Now,  I  ain't  goin'  to  get  shot 
for  no  twenty-five  dollars  a  day,  and  if  you  are 
goin'  to  kill  the  Turk,  just  say  so  and  go  and 
do  it ;  but  if  you  ain't  goin'  to  kill  the  Turk, 
there  's  no  reason  why  I  should  n't  earn  that 
twenty-five  dollars  a  day  1 '  and  Fowler,  says 
he,  *  I  ain't  goin'  to  touch  the  Turk;  you  just 
go  right  ahead  and  protect  him.' " 

So  Simpson  "  protected  "  the  Turk  from 
the  imaginary  danger  of  Fowler,  for  about  a 
week,  at  twenty-five  dollars  a  day.  Then  one 
evening  he  happened  to  go  out  and  met  Fow- 
ler, "  and,"  said  he,  "  the  moment  I  saw  him 
I  knowed  he  felt  mean,  for  he  begun  to  shoot 
at  my  feet,"  which  certainly  did  seem  to  offer 
presumptive  evidence  of  meanness.  Simpson 
continued  : 

"  I  didn't  have  no  gun,  so  I  just  had  to 
stand  there  and  take  it  until  something  dis- 
tracted his  attention,  and  I  went  off  home  to 
get  my  gun  and  kill  him,  but  I  wanted  to  do 
it  perfectly  lawful ;  so  I  went  up  to  the  mayor 
(he  was  playin'  poker  with  one  of  the  judges), 
and  says  I  to  him,  '  Mr.  Mayor,'  says  I,  *  I 
am  goin'  to  shoot  Fowler.  And  the  mayor  he 
riz  out  of  his  chair  and  he  took  me  by  the 
hand,  and  says  he,  '  Mr.  Simpson,  if  you  do  I 
will  stand  by  you ; '  and  the  judge,  he  says, 
*  I'll  go  on  your  bond.' " 

Fortified  by  this  cordial  approval  of  the  ex- 
ecutive and  judicial  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment, Mr.  Simpson  started  on  his  quest 


IN  COWBOY  LAND.  221 

Meanwhile,  however,  Fowler  had  cut  up  an- 
other prominent  citizen,  and  they  already  had 
him  in  jail.  The  friends  of  law  and  order 
feeling  some  little  distrust  as  to  the  perma- 
nency of  their  own  zeal  for  righteousness, 
thought  it  best  to  settle  the  matter  before  there 
was  time  for  cooling,  and  accordingly^  headed 
by  Simpson,  the  mayor,  the  judge,  the  Turk, 
and  other  prominent  citizens  of  the  town, 
they  broke  into  the  jail  and  hanged  Fowler. 
The  point  in  the  hanging  which  especially 
tickled  my  friend's  fancy,  as  he  lingered  over 
the  reminiscence,  was  one  that  was  rather  too 
ghastly  to  appeal  to  our  own  sense  of  humor. 
In  the  Turk's  mind  there  still  rankled  the 
memory  of  Fowler's  very  unprofessional  con- 
duct while  figuring  before  him  as  a  criminal. 
Said  Simpson,  with  a  merry  twinkle  of  the 
eye  :  "  Do  you  know  that  Turk,  he  was  a  right 
funny  fellow  too  after  all.  Just  as  the  boys 
were  going  to  string  up  Fowler,  says  he, 
*  Boys,  stop ;  one  moment,  gentlemen, — Mr. 
Fowler,  good-by,'  and  he  blew  a  kiss  to 
him  !  " 

In  the  cow-country,  and  elsewhere  on  the 
wild  borderland  between  savagery  and  civiliz- 
ation, men  go  quite  as  often  by  nicknames  as 
by  those  to  which  they  are  lawfully  entitled. 
Half  the  cowboys  and  hunters  of  my  acquaint- 
ance are  known  by  names  entirely  unconnected 
with  those  they  inherited  or  received  when 
they  were  christened.  Occasionally  some 
would-be  desperado  or  make-believe  mighty 
hunter  tries  to  adopt  what  he  deems  a  title 


222  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

suitable  to  his  prowess ;  but  such  an  effort  is 
never  attempted  in  really  wild  places,  where  it 
would  be  greeted  with  huge  derision  ;  for  all 
of  these  names  that  are  genuine  are  bestowed 
by  outsiders,  with  small  regard  to  the  wishes 
of  the  person  named.  Ordinarily  the  name 
refers  to  some  easily  recognizable  accident  of 
origin,  occupation,  or  aspect  ;  as  witness  the 
innumerable  Dutcheys,  Frcncheys,  Kentucks, 
Texas  Jacks,  Bronco  Bills,  Bear  Joes,  Buck- 
skins, Red  Jims,  and  the  like.  Sometimes  it 
is  apparently  meaningless ;  one  of  my  cow- 
puncher  friends  is  always  called  "  Sliver  "  or 
"  Splinter  " — why,  I  have  no  idea.  At  other 
times  some  particular  incident  may  give  rise 
to  the  title :  a  clean-looking  cowboy  formerly 
in  my  employ  was  always  known  as  "  Muddy 
Bill,"  because  he  had  once  been  bucked  off 
his  horse  into  a  mud  hole. 

The  grewsome  genesis  of  one  such  name  is 
given  in  the  following  letter  which  I  have  just 
received  from  an  old  hunting-friend  in  the 
Rockies,  who  took  a  kindly  interest  in  a  fron- 
tier cabin  which  the  Boone  and  Crockett  Club 
was  putting  up  at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair. 

"  Feb  i6th  1893  »  ^er  Sir  :  I  see  in  the  newspapers 
that  your  club  the  Daniel  Boon  and  Davey  Crockityou 
Intend  to  erect  a  fruntier  Cabin  at  the  world's  Far  at 
Chicago  to  represent  the  erley  Pianears  of  our  coun- 
try I  would  like  to  see  you  maik  a  success  I  have 
all  my  life  been  a  fruntiersman  and  feel  interested  in 
your  undertaking  and  I  hoap  you  wile  get  a  good  assort- 
ment of  relicks  I  want  to  maik  one  suggestion  to  you 
that  is  in  regard  to  geting  a  good  man  and  a  genuine 
Mauntanner  to  take  charg  of  your  haus  at  Chicago  I 
want  to  recommend  a  man  for  you  to  get  it  is  Liver- 


IN  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  223 

eating  Johnson  that  is  the  naim  he  is  generally  called 
he  is  an  olde  mauntneer  and  large  and  fine  looking  and 
one  of  the  Best  Story  Tellers  in  the  country  and  Very 
Polight  genteel  to  every  one  he  meets  I  wil  tel  you 
how  he  got  that  naim  Liver-eating  in  a  hard  Fight 
with  the  Black  Feet  Indians  thay  Faught  ail  day  John- 
son and  a  few  Whites  Faught  a  large  Body  of  Indians 
all  day  after  the  fight  Johnson  cam  in  contact  with  a 
wounded  Indian  and  Johnson  was  aut  of  ammunition 
and  thay  faught  it  out  with  thar  Knives  and  Johnson 
got  away  with  the  Indian  and  in  the  fight  cut  the  livver 
out  of  the  Indian  and  said  to  the  Boys  did  thay  want 
any  Liver  to  eat  that  is  the  way  he  got  the  naim  of 
Liver-eating  Johnson 

'•  Yours  truly  "  etc.,  etc. 

Frontiersmen  are  often  as  original  in  their 
theories  of  life  as  in  their  names  ;  and  the 
originality  may  take  the  form  of  wild  savagery, 
of  mere  uncouthness,  or  of  an  odd  combina- 
tion of  genuine  humor  with  simple  acceptance 
of  facts  as  they  are.  On  one  occasion  I  ex- 
pressed some  surprise  at  learning  that  a  cer- 
tain Mrs.  P.  had  suddenly  married,  though 
her  husband  was  alive  and  in  jail  in  a  neigh- 
boring town  ;  and  received  for  answer  : 
"  Well,  you  see,  old  man  Pete  he  skipped  the 
country,  and  left  his  widow  behind  him,  and 
so  Bob  Evans  he  up  and  married  her  1  " — 
which  was  evidently  felt  to  be  a  proceeding 
requiring  no  explanation  whatever. 

In  the  cow-country  there  is  nothing  more 
refreshing  than  the  light-hearted  belief  enter- 
tained by  the  average  man  to  the  effect  that 
any  animal  which  by  main  force  has  been  sad- 
dled and  ridden,  or  harnessed  and  driven  3 
couple  of  times,  is  a  "broke  horse."  My 


224  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

present  foreman  is  firmly  wedded  to  this  idea, 
as  well  as  to  its  complement,  the  belief  that 
any  animal  with  hoofs,  before  any  vehicle 
with  wheels,  can  be  driven  across  any  coun- 
try. One  summer  on  reaching  the  ranch  I 
was  entertained  with  the  usual  accounts  of  the 
adventures  and  misadventures  which  had  be- 
fallen my  own  men  and  my  neighbors  since  I 
had  been  out  last.  In  the  course  of  the  con- 
versation my  foreman  remarked  :  "  We  had 
a  great  time  out  here  about  six  weeks  ago. 
There  was  a  professor  from  Ann  Arbor  came 
out  with  his  wife  to  see  the  Bad  Lands,  and 
they  asked  if  we  could  rig  them  up  a  team, 
and  we  said  we  guessed  we  could,  and  Foley  s 
boy  and  I  did  ;  but  it  ran  away  with  him  and 
broke  his  leg  !  He  was  here  for  a  month.  I 
guess  he  did  n't  mind  it  though."  Of  this  I 
was  less  certain,  forlorn  little  Medora  being  a 
"  busted  "  cow-town,  concerning  which  I  once 
heard  another  of  my  men  remark,  in  reply  to 
an  mquisitive  commercial  traveller  :  "  How 
many  people  lives  here  ?  Eleven — counting 
the  chickens — when  they're  all  in  town  1  " 

My  foreman  continued  :  "  By  George,  there 
was  something  that  professor  said  afterwards 
that  made  me  feel  hot.  I  sent  word  up  to  him 
by  Foley 's  boy  that  seein'  as  how  it  had  come 
out  we  would  n't  charge  him  nothin'  for  the 
rig ;  and  that  professor  he  answered  that  he 
was  glad  we  were  showing  him  some  sign  of 
consideration,  for  he'd  begun  to  believe  he'd 
fallen  into  a  den  of  sharks,  and  that  we  gave 
him  a  runaway  team  a  purpose.  That  made 


AV  COWBOY  LAND.  225 

me  hot,  calling  that  a  runaway  team.  Why, 
there  was  one  of  them  horses  never  could  have 
run  away  before  ;  it  had  n't  never  been  druv 
but  twice  !  and  the  other  horse  maybe  had  run 
away  a  few  times,  but  there  was  lots  of  times 
he  had  rft  run  away.  I  esteemed  that  team 
full  as  liable  not  to  run  away  as  it  was  to  run 
away,"  concluded  my  foreman,  evidently  deem- 
ing this  as  good  a  warranty  of  gentleness  as 
the  most  exacting  could  require. 

The  definition  of  good  behavior  on  the 
frontier  is  even  more  elastic  for  a  saddle-horse 
than  for  a  team.  Last  spring  one  of  the 
Three-Seven  riders,  a  magnificent  horseman 
was  killed  on  the  round-up  near  Belfield,  his 
horse  bucking  and  falling  on  him.  u  It  was 
accounted  a  plumb  gentle  horse  too,"  said  my 
informant,  "  only  it  sometimes  sulked  and 
acted  a  little  mean  when  it  was  cinched  up 
behind."  The  unfortunate  rider  did  not  know 
of  this  failing  of  the  "  plumb  gentle  horse," 
and  as  soon  as  he  was  in  the  saddle  it  threw 
itself  over  sideways  with  a  great  bound,  and 
he  fell  on  his  head,  and  never  spoke  again. 

Such  accidents  are  too  common  in  the  wild 
country  to  attract  very  much  attention  ;  the  men 
accept  them  with  grim  quiet,  as  inevitable  in 
such  lives  as  theirs — lives  that  are  harsh  and 
narrow  in  their  toil  and  their  pleasure  alike, 
and  that  are  ever-bounded  by  an  iron  horizon 
of  hazard  and  hardship.  During  the  last  year 
and  a  half  three  other  men  from  the  ranches 
in  my  immediate  neighborhood  have  met 
their  deaths  in  the  course  of  their  work.  One, 
15 


226  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

a  trail  boss  of  the  O  X,  was  drowned  while 
swimming  his  herd  across  a  swollen  river. 
Another,  one  of  the  fancy  ropers  of  the  W  Bar, 
was  killed  while  roping  cattle  in  a  corral ;  his 
saddle  turned,  the  rope  twisted  round  him,  he 
was  pulled  off,  and  was  trampled  to  death  by 
his  own  horse. 

The  fourth  man,  a  cowpuncher  named 
Hamilton,  lost  his  life  during  the  last  week  of 
October,  1891,  in  the  first  heavy  snowstorm  of 
the  season.  Yet  he  was  a  skilled  plainsman, 
on  ground  he  knew  well,  and  just  before 
straying  himself,  he  successfully  instructed 
two  men  who  did  not  know  the  country  how 
to  get  to  camp.  They  were  all  three  with  the 
round-up,  and  were  making  a  circle  through 
the  Bad  Lands  ;  the  wagons  had  camped  on 
the  eastern  edge  of  these  Bad  Lands,  where 
they  merged  into  the  prairie,  at  the  head  of 
an  old  disused  road,  which  led  about  due  east 
from  the  Little  Missouri.  It  was  a  gray, 
lowering  day,  and  as  darkness  came  on 
Hamilton's  horse  played  out,  and  he  told  his 
two  companions  not  to  wait,  as  it  had  begun 
to  snow,  but  to  keep  on  towards  the  north, 
skirting  some  particularly  rough  buttes,  and 
as  soon  as  they  struck  the  road  to  turn  to  the 
right  and  follow  it  out  to  the  prairie,  where 
they  would  find  camp  ;  he  particularly  warned 
them  to  keep  a  sharp  look-out,  so  as  not  to 
pass  over  the  dim  trail  unawares  in  the  dusk 
and  the  storm.  They  followed  his  advice,  and 
reached  camp  safely ;  and  after  they  had  left 
him  nobody  ever  again  saw  him  alive.  Evi- 


IN  COWBOY  LAND,  227 

dently  he  himself,  plodding  northwards,  passed 
over  the  road  without  seeing  it  in  the  gather- 
ing gloom ;  probably  he  struck  it  at  some 
point  where  the  ground  was  bad,  and  the  dim 
trail  in  consequence  disappeared  entirely,  as 
is  the  way  with  these  prairie  roads — making 
them  landmarks  to  be  used  with  caution.  He 
must  then  have  walked  on  and  on,  over  rugged 
hills  and  across  deep  ravines,  until  his  horse 
came  to  a  standstill ;  he  took  off  its  saddle 
and  picketed  it  to  a  dwarfed  ash.  Its  frozen 
carcass  was  found  with  the  saddle  near  by, 
two  months  later.  He  now  evidently  recog- 
nized some  landmark,  and  realized  that  he 
had  passed  the  road,  and  was  far  to  the  north 
of  the  round-up  wagons;  but  he  was  a  res- 
olute, self-confident  man,  and  he  determined 
to  strike  out  for  a  line  camp,  which  he  knew 
lay  about  due  east  of  him,  two  or  three  miles 
out  on  the  prairie,  on  one  of  the  head  branches 
of  Knife  River.  Night  must  have  fallen  by 
this  time,  and  he  missed  the  camp,  probably 
passing  it  within  less  than  a  mile ;  but  he  did 
pass  it,  and  with  it  all  hopes  of  life,  and  walked 
wearily  on  to  his  doom,  through  the  thick 
darkness  and  the  driving  snow.  At  last  his 
strength  failed,  and  he  lay  down  in  the  tall 
grass  of  a  little  hollow.  Five  months  later,  in 
the  early  spring,  the  riders  from  the  line  camp 
found  his  body,  resting  face  downwards,  with 
the  forehead  on  the  folded  arms. 

Accidents  of  less  degree  are  common.  Men 
break  their  collar-bones,  arms,  or  legs  by  fall- 
ing when  riding  at  speed  over  dangerous 


228  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY, 

ground,  when  cutting  cattle  or  trying  to  con* 
trol  a  stampeded  herd,  or  by  being  thrown 
or  rolled  on  by  bucking  or  rearing  horses ; 
or  their  horses,  and  on  rare  occasions  even 
they  themselves,  are  gored  by  fighting  steers. 
Death  by  storm  or  in  flood,  death  in  striving 
to  master  a  wild  and  vicious  horse,  or  in 
handling  maddened  cattle,  and  too  often  death 
in  brutal  conflict  with  one  of  his  own  fellows 
— any  one  of  these  is  the  not  unnatural  end 
of  the  life  of  the  dweller  on  the  plains  or  in 
the  mountains. 

But  a  few  years  ago  other  risks  had  to  be 
run  from  savage  beasts,  and  from  the  Indians. 
Since  I  have  been  ranching  on  the  Little 
Missouri,  two  men  have  been  killed  by  bears 
in  the  neighborhood  of  my  range  ;  and  in  the 
early  years  of  my  residence  there,  several  men 
living  or  travelling  in  the  country  were  slain 
by  small  war-parties  of  young  braves.  All  the 
old-time  trappers  and  hunters  could  tell  stir- 
ring tales  of  their  encounters  with  Indians. 

My  friend,  Tazewell  Woody,  was  among  the 
chief  actors  in  one  of  the  most  noteworthy 
adventures  of  this  kind.  He  was  a  very  quiet 
man,  and  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  get 
him  to  talk  over  any  of  his  past  experiences ; 
but  one  day,  when  he  was  in  high  good-humor 
with  me  for  having  made  three  consecutive 
straight  shots  at  elk,  he  became  quite  com- 
municative, and  I  was  able  to  get  him  to  tell 
me  one  story  which  I  had  long  wished  to  hear 
from  his  lips,  having  already  heard  of  it 
through  one  of  the  other  survivors  of  the  in- 


IN  COWBOY  LAND.  229 

cident.  When  he  found  that  I  already  knew 
a  good  deal  old  Woody  told  me  the  rest. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  1875,  and  Woody 
and  two  friends  were  trapping  on  the  Yellow- 
stone. The  Sioux  were  very  bad  at  the  time 
and  had  killed  many  prospectors,  hunters,  cow- 
boys, and  settlers  ;  the  whites  retaliated  when- 
ever they  got  a  chance,  but,  as  always  in  Indian 
warfare,  the  sly,  lurking,  bloodthirsty  savages 
inflicted  much  more  loss  than  they  suffered. 

The  three  men,  having  a  dozen  horses  with 
them,  were  camped  by  the  river-side  in  a  tri- 
angular patch  of  brush,  shaped  a  good  deal 
like  a  common  flat-iron.  On  reaching  camp 
they  started  to  put  out  their  traps  ;  and  when 
he  came  back  in  the  evening  Woody  informed 
his  companions  that  he  had  seen  a  great  deal 
of  Indian  sign,  and  that  he  believed  there  were 
Sioux  in  the  neighborhood.  His  companions 
both  laughed  at  him,  assuring  him  that  they 
were  not  Sioux  at  all  but  friendly  Crows,  and 
that  they  would  be  in  camp  next  morning ;  "  and 
sure  enough,"  said  Woody,  meditatively,  "  they 
were  in  camp  next  morning."  By  dawn  one 
of  the  men  went  down  the  river  to  look  at 
some  of  the  traps,  while  Woody  started  out  to 
where  the  horses  were,  the  third  man  remaining 
in  camp  to  get  breakfast.  Suddenly  two  shots 
were  heard  down  the  river,  and  in  another 
moment  a  mounted  Indian  swept  towards  the 
horses.  Woody  fired,  but  missed  him,  and  he 
drove  off  five  while  Woody,  running  forward, 
succeeded  in  herding  the  other  seven  into  camp. 
Hardly  had  this  been  accomplished  before  the 

4-6  B 


230  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

man  who  had  gone  down  the  river  appeared, 
out  of  breath  with  his  desperate  run,  having 
been  surprised  by  several  Indians,  and  just 
succeeding  in  making  his  escape  by  dodging 
from  bush  to  bush,  threatening  his  pursuers 
with  his  rifle. 

These  proved  to  be  but  the  forerunners  of 
a  great  war  party,  for  when  the  sun  rose  the 
hills  around  seemed  black  with  Sioux.  Had 
they  chosen  to  dash  right  in  on  the  camp, 
running  the  risk  of  losing  several  of  their  men 
in  the  charge,  they  could  of  course  have  eaten 
up  the  three  hunters  in  a  minute ;  but  such  a 
charge  is  rarely  practised  by  Indians,  who, 
although  they  are  admirable  in  defensive  war- 
fare, and  even  in  certain  kinds  of  offensive 
movements,  and  although  from  their  skill  in 
hiding  they  usually  inflict  much  more  loss  than 
they  suffer  when  matched  against  white  troops, 
are  yet  very  reluctant  to  make  any  movement 
where  the  advantage  gained  must  be  offset  by 
considerable  loss  of  life.  The  three  men 
thought  they  were  surely  doomed,  but  being 
veteran  frontiersmen  and  long  inured  to  every 
kind  of  hardship  and  danger,  they  set  to  work 
with  cool  resolution  to  make  as  effective  a  de- 
fence as  possible,  to  beat  off  their  antagonists 
if  they  might,  and  if  this  proved  impracticable, 
to  sell  their  lives  as  dearly  as  they  could. 
Having  tethered  the  horses  in  a  slight  hollow, 
the  only  one  which  offered  any  protection, 
each  man  crept  out  to  a  point  of  the  triangular 
brush  patch  and  lay  down  to  await  events. 

In  a  very  short  while  the  Indians  began 


IN  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  23 1 

closing  in  on  them,  taking  every  advantage  of 
cover,  and  then,  both  from  their  side  of  the 
river  and  from  the  opposite  bank,  opened  a 
perfect  fusillade,  wasting  their  cartridges  with 
a  recklessness  which  Indians  are  apt  to  show 
when  excited.  The  hunters  could  hear  the 
hoarse  commands  of  the  chiefs,  the  war-whoops 
and  the  taunts  in  broken  English  which  some 
of  the  warriors  hurled  at  them.  Very  soon  all 
of  their  horses  were  killed,  and  the  brush  was 
fairly  riddled  by  the  incessant  volleys  ;  but  the 
three  men  themselves,  lying  flat  on  the  ground 
and  well  concealed,  were  not  harmed.  The 
more  daring  young  warriors  then  began  to 
creep  toward  the  hunters,  going  stealthily 
from  one  piece  of  cover  to  the  next ;  and  now 
the  whites  in  turn  opened  fire.  They  did  not 
shoot  recklessly,  as  did  their  foes,  but  coolly 
and  quietly,  endeavoring  to  make  each  shot 
tell.  Said  Woody :  "  I  only  fired  seven  times 
all  day ;  I  reckoned  on  getting  meat  every  time 
I  pulled  trigger."  They  had  an  immense  ad- 
vantage over  their  enemies,  in  that  whereas 
they  lay  still  and  entirely  concealed,  the  Indians 
of  course  had  to  move  from  cover  to  cover  in 
order  to  approach,  and  so  had  at  times  to 
expose  themselves.  When  the  whites  fired  at 
all  they  fired  at  a  man,  whether  moving  or 
motionless,  whom  they  could  clearly  see,  while 
the  Indians  could  only  shoot  at  the  smoke, 
which  imperfectly  marked  the  position  of  their 
unseen  foes.  In  consequence  the  assailants 
speedily  found  that  it  was  a  task  of  hopeless 
danger  to  try  in  such  a  manner  to  close  in  on 


232  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

three  plains  veterans,  men  of  iron  nerve  and 
skilled  in  the  use  of  the  rifle.  Yet  some  of 
the  more  daring  crept  up  very  close  to  the 
patch  of  brush,  and  one  actually  got  inside  it, 
and  was  killed  among  the  bedding  that  lay  by 
the  smouldering  camp-fire.  The  wounded  and 
such  of  the  dead  as  did  not  lie  in  too  exposed 
positions  were  promptly  taken  away  by  their 
comrades  ;  but  seven  bodies  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  three  hunters.  I  asked  Woody  how  many 
he  himself  had  killed.  He  said  he  could  only 
be  sure  of  two  that  he  got ;  one  he  shot  in  the 
head  as  he  peeped  over  a  bush,  and  the  other 
he  shot  through  the  smoke  as  he  attempted  to 
rush  in.  "  My,  how  that  Indian  did  yell," 
said  Woody,  retrospectively  ,  "  he  was  no  great 
of  a  Stoic."  After  two  or  three  hours  of  this 
deadly  skirmishing,  which  resulted  in  nothing 
more  serious  to  the  whites  than  in  two  of  them 
being  slightly  wounded,  the  Sioux  became 
disheartened  by  the  loss  they  were  suffering 
and  withdrew,  confining  themselves  thereafter 
to  a  long  range  and  harmless  fusillade.  When 
it  was  dark  the  three  men  crept  out  to  the  river 
bed,  and  taking  advantage  of  the  pitchy  night 
broke  through  the  circle  of  their  foes  ;  they 
managed  to  reach  the  settlements  without 
further  molestation,  having  lost  everything  ex- 
cept their  rifles. 

For  many  years  one  of  the  most  important 
of  the  wilderness  dwellers  was  the  West  Point 
officer,  and  no  man  has  played  a  greater  part 
than  he  in  the  wild  warfare  which  opened  the 
regions  beyond  the  Mississippi  to  white  settle' 


IN  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  233 

ment.  Since  1879,  there  has  been  but  little 
regular  Indian  fighting  in  the  North,  though 
there  have  been  one  or  two  very  tedious  and 
wearisome  campaigns  waged  against  the 
Apaches  in  the  South.  Even  in  the  North, 
however,  there  have  been  occasional  upris- 
ings which  had  to  be  quelled  by  the  regular 
troops. 

After  my  elk  hunt  in  September,  1891,  I 
came  out  through  the  Yellowstone  Park,  as 
I  have  elsewhere  related,  riding  in  company 
with  a  surveyor  of  the  Burlington  and  Quincy 
railroad,  who  was  just  coming  in  from  his 
summer's  work.  It  was  the  first  of  October. 
There  had  been  a  heavy  snow-storm  and  the 
snow  was  still  falling.  Riding  a  stout  pony 
each,  and  leading  another  packed  with  our 
bedding,  etc.,  we  broke  our  way  from  the 
upper  to  the  middle  geyser  basin.  Here  we 
found  a  troop  of  the  ist  Cavalry  camped, 
under  the  command  of  old  friends  of  mine, 
Captain  Frank  Edwards  and  Lieutenant  (now 
Captain)  John  Pitcher.  They  gave  us  hay 
for  our  horses  and  insisted  upon  our  stopping 
to  lunch,  with  the  ready  hospitality  always 
shown  by  army  officers.  After  lunch  we  be- 
gan exchanging  stories.  My  travelling  com- 
panion, the  surveyor,  had  that  spring  per- 
formed a  feat  of  note,  going  through  one  of 
the  canyons  of  the  Big  Horn  for  the  first  time. 
He  went  with  an  old  mining  inspector,  the 
two  of  them  dragging  a  cottonwood  sledge 
over  the  ice.  The  walls  of  the  canyon  are 
so  sheer  and  the  water  so  rough  that  it  can  be 


234  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

descended  only  when  the  stream  is  frozen. 
However,  after  six  days'  labor  and  hardship 
the  descent  was  accomplished  ;  and  the  sur- 
veyor, in  concluding,  described  his  experience 
in  going  through  the  Crow  Reservation. 

This  turned  the  conversation  upon  Indians, 
and  it  appeared  that  both  of  our  hosts  had 
been  actors  in  Indian  scrapes  which  had 
attracted  my  attention  at  the  time  they  oc- 
curred, as  they  took  place  among  tribes  that  I 
knew  and  in  a  country  which  I  had  sometime 
visited,  either  when  hunting  or  when  pur- 
chasing horses  for  the  ranch.  The  first, 
which  occurred  to  Captain  Edwards,  happened 
late  in  1886,  at  the  time  when  the  Crow 
Medicine  Chief,  Sword-Bearer,  announced 
himself  as  the  Messiah  of  the  Indian  race, 
during  one  of  the  usual  epidemics  of  ghost 
dancing.  Sword-Bearer  derived  his  name 
from  always  wearing  a  medicine  sword — that 
is,  a  sabre  painted  red.  He  claimed  to  pos- 
sess magic  power,  and,  thanks  to  the  perfor- 
mance of  many  dextrous  feats  of  juggling, 
and  the  lucky  outcome  of  certain  prophecies, 
he  deeply  stirred  the  Indians,  arousing  the 
young  warriors  in  particular  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  excitement.  They  became  sullen, 
began  to  paint,  and  armed  themselves ;  and 
the  agent  and  the  settlers  nearby  grew 
so  apprehensive  that  the  troops  were  order- 
ed to  go  to  the  reservation.  A  body  of 
cavalry,  including  Captain  Edwards'  troop, 
was  accordingly  marched  thither,  and  found  the 
Crow  warriors,  mounted  on  their  war  ponies 


IN-  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  235 

and  dressed  in  their  striking  battle-garb,  wait- 
ing on  a  hill. 

The  position  of  troops  at  the  beginning  oi 
such  an  affair  is  always  peculiarly  difficult. 
The  settlers  round-about  are  sure  to  clamor 
bitterly  against  them,  no  matter  what  they 
do,  on  the  ground  that  they  are  not  thorough 
enough  and  are  showing  favor  to  the  savages, 
while  on  the  other  hand,  even  if  they  fight 
purely  in  self-defence,  a  large  number  of 
worthy  but  weak-minded  sentimentalists  in 
the  East  are  sure  to  shriek  about  their  having 
brutally  attacked  the  Indians.  The  war 
authorities  always  insist  that  they  must  not 
fire  the  first  shot  under  any  circumstances, 
and  such  were  the  orders  at  this  time.  The 
Crows  on  the  hill-top  showed  a  sullen  and 
threatening  front,  and  the  troops  advanced 
slowly  towards  them  and  then  halted  for  a 
parley.  Meanwhile  a  mass  of  black  thunder- 
clouds gathering  on  the  horizon  threatened 
one  of  those  cloudbursts  of  extreme  severity 
and  suddenness  so  characteristic  of  the  plains 
country.  While  still  trying  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  a  parley,  a  horseman  started  out 
of  the  Crow  ranks  and  galloped  headlong 
down  towards  the  troops.  It  was  the  medi- 
cine chief,  Sword-Bearer.  He  was  painted 
and  in  his  battle-dress,  wearing  his  war-bonnet 
of  floating,  trailing  eagle  feathers,  while  the 
plumes  of  the  same  bird  were  braided  in  the 
mane  and  tail  of  his  fiery  little  horse.  On  he 
came  at  a  gallop  almost  up  to  the  troops  and 
then  began  to  circle  around  them,  calling  and 


236  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

singing  and  throwing  his  crimson  sword  into 
the  air,  catching  it  by  the  hilt  as  it  fell. 
Twice  he  rode  completely  around  the  soldiers, 
who  stood  in  uncertainty,  not  knowing  what 
to  make  of  his  performance,  and  expressly 
forbidden  to  shoot  at  him.  Then  paying  no 
further  heed  to  them  he  rode  back  towards 
the  Crows.  It  appears  that  he  had  told  them 
that  he  would  ride  twice  around  the  hostile 
force,  and  by  his  incantations  would  call  down 
rain  from  heaven,  which  would  make  the 
hearts  of  the  white  men  like  water,  so  that 
they  should  go  back  to  their  homes.  Sure 
enough,  while  the  arrangements  for  the  parley 
were  still  going  forward,  down  came  the 
cloudburst,  drenching  the  command  and  mak~ 
ing  the  ground  on  the  hills  in  front  nearly 
impassable ;  and  before  it  dried  a  courier  ar- 
rived with  orders  to  the  troops  to  go  back  to 
camp. 

This  fulfilment  of  Sword-Bearer's  prophecy 
of  course  raised  his  reputation  to  the  zenith 
and  the  young  men  of  the  tribe  prepared  for 
war,  while  the  older  chiefs,  who  more  fully 
realized  the  power  of  the  whites,  still  hung 
back.  When  the  troops  next  appeared  they 
came  upon  the  entire  Crow  force,  the  women 
and  children  with  their  tepees  being  off  to  one 
side  beyond  a  little  stream  while  almost  all 
the  warriors  of  the  tribe  were  gathered  in  front. 
Sword-Bearer  started  to  repeat  his  former  ride, 
to  the  intense  irritation  of  the  soldiers. 
Luckily,  however,  this  time  some  of  his 
young  men  could  not  be  restrained.  They 


IN  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  237 

too  began  to  ride  near  the  troops,  and  one 
of  them  was  unable  to  refrain  from  firing 
on  Captain  Edwards'  troop,  which  was  in  the 
van.  This  gave  the  soldiers  their  chance. 
They  instantly  responded  with  a  volley,  and 
Captain  Edwards7  troop  charged.  The  fight 
lasted  but  a  minute  or  two,  for  Sword-Bearer 
was  struck  by  a  bullet  and  fell,  and  as  he 
had  boasted  himself  invulnerable,  and 
promised  that  his  warriors  should  be  invulner- 
able also  if  they  would  follow  him,  the  hearts 
of  the  latter  became  as  water  and  they  broke 
in  every  direction.  One  of  the  amusing, 
though  irritating,  incidents  of  the  affair  was 
to  see  the  plumed  and  painted  warriors  race 
headlong  for  the  camp,  plunge  into  the  stream, 
wash  off  their  war  paint,  and  remove  their 
feathers;  in  another  moment  they  would  be 
stolidly  sitting  on  the  ground,  with  their 
blankets  over  their  shoulders,  rising  to  greet 
the  pursuing  cavalry  with  unmoved  composure 
and  calm  assurances  that  they  had  always 
been  friendly  and  had  much  disapproved  the 
conduct  of  the  young  bucks  who  had  just 
been  scattered  on  the  field  outside.  It  was 
much  to  the  credit  of  the  discipline  of  the 
army  that  no  bloodshed  followed  the  fight 
proper.  The  loss  to  the  whites  was  small. 

The  other  incident,  related  by  Lieutenant 
Pitcher,  took  place  in  1890,  near  Tongue 
River,  in  northern  Wyoming.  The  command 
with  which  he  was  serving  was  camped  near 
the  Cheyenne  Reservation.  One  day  two 
young  Cheyenne  bucks,  met  one  of  the  govern- 


238  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

ment  herders,  and  promptly  killed  him — in  a 
sudden  fit,  half  of  ungovernable  blood  lust, 
half  of  mere  ferocious  lightheartedness.  They 
then  dragged  his  body  into  the  brush  and  left 
itv  The  disappearance  of  the  herder  of  course 
attracted  attention,  and  a  search  was  organ- 
ized by  the  cavalry.  At  first  the  Indians  stout- 
ly denied  all  knowledge  of  the  missing  man ; 
but  when  it  became  evident  that  the  search 
party  would  shortly  find  him,  two  or  three 
of  the  chiefs  joined  them,  and  piloted  them 
to  where  the  body  lay;  and  acknowledged 
that  he  had  been  murdered  by  two  of  their 
band,  though  at  first  they  refused  to  give  their 
names.  The  commander  of  the  post  de- 
manded that  the  murderers  be  given  up. 
The  chiefs  said  that  they  were  very  sorry,  that 
this  could  not  be  done,  but  that  they  were 
willing  to  pay  over  any  reasonable  number  of 
ponies  to  make  amends  for  the  death.  This 
offer  was  of  course  promptly  refused,  and  the 
commander  notified  them  that  if  they  did  not 
surrender  the  murderers  by  a  certain  time  he 
would  hold  the  whole  tribe  responsible  and 
would  promptly  move  out  and  attack  them. 
Upon  this  the  chiefs,  after  holding  full  counsel 
with  the  tribe,  told  the  commander  that  they 
had  no  power  to  surrender  the  murderers,  but 
that  the  latter  had  said  that  sooner  than  see 
their  tribe  involved  in  a  hopeless  struggle  they 
would  of  their  own  accord  come  in  and  meet 
the  troops  anywhere  the  latter  chose  to  appoint, 
and  die  fighting.  To  this  the  commander 
responded:  "All  right;  let  them  come  into 


IN  COWBOY  LAND.  239 

the  agency  in  half  an  hour."     The  chiefs  ac- 
quiesced, and  withdrew. 

Immediately  the  Indians  sent  mounted 
messengers  at  speed  from  camp  to  camp,  sum- 
moning all  their  people  to  witness  the  act  of 
fierce  self-doom ;  and  soon  the  entire  tribe  of 
Cheyennes,  many  of  them  having  their  faces 
blackened  in  token  of  mourning,  moved 
down  and  took  up  a  position  on  the  hill-side 
close  to  the  agency.  At  the  appointed  hour 
both  young  men  appeared  in  their  handsome 
war  dress,  galloped  to  the  top  of  the  hill  near 
the  encampment,  and  deliberately  opened  fire 
on  the  troops.  The  latter  merely  fired  a  few 
shots  to  keep  the  young  desperadoes  off,  while 
Lieutenant  "Pitcher  and  a  score  of  cavalrymen 
left  camp  to  make  a  circle  and  drive  them  in  ; 
they  did  not  wish  to  hurt  them,  but  to  capture 
and  give  them  over  to  the  Indians,  so  that  the 
latter  might  be  forced  themselves  to  inflict 
the  punishment.  However,  they  were  unable 
to  accomplish  their  purpose ;  one  of  the  young 
braves  went  straight  at  them,  firing  his  rifle 
and  wounding  the  horse  of  one  of  the  cavalry- 
men, so  that,  simply  in  self-defence,  the  latter 
had  to  fire  a  volley,  which  laid  low  the  assail- 
ant; the  other,  his  horse  having  been  shot, 
was  killed  in  the  brush,  fighting  to  the  last. 
All  the  while,  from  the  moment  the  two  doomed 
braves  appeared  until  they  fell,  the  Chey- 
ennes on  the  hill-side  had  been  steadily  sing- 
ing the  death  chant.  When  the  young  men 
had  both  died,  and  had  thus  averted  the  fate 
which  their  misdeeds  would  else  have  brought 


240  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

upon  the  tribe,  the  warriors  took  their  bodies 
and  bore  them  away  for  burial  honors,  the 
soldiers  looking  on  in  silence.  Where  the 
slain  men  were  buried  the  whites  never  knew ; 
but  all  that  night  they  listened  to  the  dismal 
wailing  of  the  dirges  with  which  the  tribesmen 
celebrated  their  gloomy  funeral  rites. 

Frontiersmen  are  not,  as  a  rule,  apt  to  be 
very  superstitious.  They  lead  lives  too  hard 
and  practical,  and  have  too  little  imagination 
in  things  spiritual  and  supernatural.  I  have 
heard  but  few  ghost  stories  while  living  on 
the  frontier,  and  these  few  were  of  a  perfectly 
commonplace  and  conventional  type. 

But  I  once  listened  to  a  goblin  story  which 
rather  impressed  me.  It  was  told  by  a  grisled, 
weather-beaten  old  mountain  hunter,  named 
Bauman,  who  was  born  and  had  passed  all  his 
life  on  the  frontier.  He  must  have  believed 
what  he  said,  for  he  could  hardly  repress  a 
shudder  at  certain  points  of  the  tale ;  but  he 
was  of  German  ancestry,  and  in  childhood 
had  doubtless  been  saturated  with  all  kinds 
of  ghost  and  goblin  lore,  so  that  many  fear- 
some superstitions  were  latent  in  his  mind ; 
besides,  he  knew  well  the  stories  told  by  the 
Indian  medicine  men  in  their  winter  camps, 
of  the  snow-walkers,  and  the  spectres,  and  the 
formless  evil  beings  that  haunt  the  forest 
depths,  and  dog  and  waylay  the  lonely  wan- 
derer who  after  nightfall  passes  through  the 
regions  where  they  lurk ;  and  it  may  be  that 
when  overcome  by  the  horror  of  the  fate  that 
befell  his  friend,  and  when  oppressed  by  the 


IN  CO  WBO  Y  LAND.  241 

awful  dread  of  the  unknown,  he  grew  to  attri- 
bute, both  at  the  time  and  still  more  in  re- 
membrance, weird  and  elfin  traits  to  what  was 
merely  some  abnormally  wicked  and  cunning 
wild  beast ;  but  whether  this  was  so  or  not,  no 
man  can  say. 

When  the  event  occurred  Bauman  was  still 
a  young  man,  and  was  trapping  with  a  partner 
among  the  mountains  dividing  the  forks  of 
the  Salmon  from  the  head  of  Wisdom  River. 
Not  having  had  much  luck,  he  and  his  partner 
determined  to  go  up  into  a  particularly  wild  and 
lonely  pass  through  which  ran  a  small  stream  , 
said  to  contain  many  beaver.  The  pass  had 
an  evil  reputation  because  the  year  before  a 
solitary  hunter  who  had  wandered  into  it  was 
there  slain,  seemingly  by  a  wild  beast,  the 
half-eaten  remains  being  afterwards  found  by 
some  mining  prospectors  who  had  passed  his 
camp  only  the  night  before. 

The  memory  of  this  event,  however,  weighed 
very  lightly  with  the  two  trappers,  who  were 
as  adventurous  and  hardy  as  others  of  their 
kind.  They  took  their  two  lean  mountain 
ponies  to  the  foot  of  the  pass,  where  they  left 
them  in  an  open  beaver  meadow,  the  rocky 
timber-clad  ground  being  from  thence  onwards 
impracticable  for  horses.  They  then  struck 
out  on  foot  through  the  vast,  gloomy  forest, 
and  in  about  four  hours  reached  a  little  open 
glade  where  they  concluded  to  camp,  as  signs 
of  game  were  plenty.  Bancroft  Library 

There  was  still  an  hour  or  two  of  daylight    -^ 
left,  and  after  building  a  brush  lean-to  and 
16 


242  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

throwing  down  and  opening  their  packs,  they 
started  up  stream.  The  country  was  very 
dense  and  hard  to  travel  through,  as  there  was 
much  down  timber,  although  here  and  there 
the  sombre  woodland  was  broken  by  small 
glades  of  mountain  grass. 

At  dusk  they  again  reached  camp.  The 
glade  in  which  it  was  pitched  was  not  many 
yards  wide,  the  tall,  close-set  pines  and  firs 
rising  round  it  like  a  wall.  On  one  side  was 
a  little  stream,  beyond  which  rose  the  steep 
mountain-slopes,  covered  with  the  unbroken 
growth  of  the  evergreen  forest. 

They  were  surprised  to  find  that  during  their 
short  absence  something,  apparently  a  bear, 
had  visited  camp,  and  had  rummaged  about 
among  their  things,  scattering  the  contents  of 
their  packs,  and  in  sheer  wantonness  destroy- 
ing their  lean-to.  The  footprints  of  the  beast 
tarere  quite  plain,  but  at  first  they  paid  no  par- 
ticular heed  to  them,  busying  themselves  with 
rebuilding  the  lean-to,  laying  out  their  beds 
and  stores,  and  lighting  the  fire. 

While  Bauman  was  making  ready  supper, 
it  being  already  dark,  his  companion  began 
to  examine  the  tracks  more  closely,  and  soon 
took  a  brand  from  the  fire  to  follow  them  up, 
where  the  intruder  had  walked  along  a  game 
trail  after  leaving  the  camp.  When  the  brand 
flickered  out,  he  returned  and  took  another, 
repeating  his  inspection  of  the  footprints  very 
closely.  Coming  back  to  the  fire,  he  stood 
by  it  a  minute  or  two,  peering  out  into  the 
darkness,  and  suddenly  remarked :  "  Bauman, 


IN  CO  WBO Y  LAND.  243 

that  bear  has  been  walking  on  two  legs." 
Bauman  laughed  at  this,  but  his  partner  in- 
sisted that  he  was  right,  and  upon  again  ex- 
amining the  tracks  with  a  torch,  they  certainly 
did  seem  to  be  made  by  but  two  paws,  or  feet. 
However,  it  was  too  dark  to  make  sure.  After 
discussing  whether  the  footprints  could  pos- 
sibly be  those  of  a  human  being,  and  coming 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  could  not  be,  the 
two  men  rolled  up  in  their  blankets,  and  went 
to  sleep  under  the  lean-to. 

At  midnight  Bauman  was  awakened  by  some 
noise,  and  sat  up  in  his  blankets.  As  he  did 
so  his  nostrils  were  struck  by  a  strong,  wild- 
beast  odor,  and  he  caught  the  loom  of  a  great 
body  in  the  darkness  at  the  mouth  of  the 
lean-to.  Grasping  his  rifle,  he  fired  at  the 
vague,  threatening  shadow,  but  must  have 
missed,  for  immediately  afterwards  he  heard 
the  smashing  of  the  underwood  as  the  thing, 
whatever  it  was,  rushed  off  into  the  impenetra- 
ble blackness  of  the  forest  and  the  night. 

After  this  the  two  men  slept  but  little,  sit- 
ting up  by  the  rekindled  fire,  but  they  heard 
nothing  more.  In  the  morning  they  started 
out  to  look  at  the  few  traps  they  had  set  the 
previous  evening  and  to  put  out  new  ones. 
By  an  unspoken  agreement  they  kept  together 
all  day,  and  returned  to  camp  towards  evening. 

On  nearing  it  they  saw,  hardly  to  their  as- 
tonishment, that  the  lean-to  had  been  again 
torn  down.  The  visitor  of  the  preceding  day 
had  returned,  and  in  wanton  malice  had  tossed 
about  their  camp  kit  and  bedding,  and  des 


244  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

troyed  the  shanty.  The  ground  was  marked 
up  by  its  tracks,  and  on  leaving  the  camp  it 
had  gone  along  the  soft  earth  by  the  brook, 
where  the  footprints  were  as  plain  as  if  on 
snow,  and,  after  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  trail, 
it  certainly  did  seem  as  if,  whatever  the  thing 
was,  it  had  walked  off  on  but  two  legs. 

The  men,  thoroughly  uneasy,  gathered  a 
great  heap  of  dead  logs,  and  kept  up  a  roaring 
fire  throughout  the  night,  one  or  the  other  sit- 
ting on  guard  most  of  the  time.  About  mid- 
night the  thing  came  down  through  the  forest 
opposite,  across  the  brook,  and  stayed  there 
on  the  hill-side  for  nearly  an  hour.  They 
could  hear  the  branches  crackle  as  it  moved 
about,  and  several  times  it  uttered  a  harsh, 
grating,  long-drawn  moan,  a  peculiarly  sinister 
sound.  Yet  it  did  not  venture  near  the  fire. 

In  the  morning  the  two  trappers,  after  dis- 
cussing the  strange  events  of  the  last  thirty- 
six  hours,  decided  that  they  would  shoulder 
their  packs  and  leave  the  valley  that  afternoon. 
They  were  the  more  ready  to  do  this  because 
in  spite  of  seeing  a  good  deal  of  game  sign 
they  had  caught  %very  little  fur.  However,  it 
was  necessary  first  to  go  along  the  line  of  their 
traps  and  gather  them,  and  this  they  started 
out  to  do. 

All  the  morning  they  kept  together,  picking 
up  trap  after  trap,  each  one  empty.  On  first 
leaving  camp  they  had  the  disagreeable  sen- 
sation of  being  followed.  In  the  dense  spruce 
thickets  they  occasionally  heard  a  branch  snap 
after  they  had  passed  ;  and  now  and  then  there 


IN  COWBOY  LAND.  245 

were  slight  rustling  noises  among  the  small 
pines  to  one  side  of  them. 

At  noon  they  were  back  within  a  couple  of 
miles  of  camp.  In  the  high,  bright  sunlight 
their  fears  seemed  absurd  to  the  two  armed 
men,  accustomed  as  they  were,  through  long 
years  of  lonely  wandering  in  the  wilderness 
to  face  every  kind  of  danger  from  man,  brute, 
or  element.  There  were  still  three  beaver  traps 
to  collect  from  a  little  pond  in  a  wide  ravine 
near  by.  Bauman  volunteered  to  gather  these 
and  bring  them  in,  while  his  companion  went 
ahead  to  camp  and  make  ready  the  packs. 

On  reaching  the  pond  Bauman  found  three 
beaver  in  the  traps,  one  of  which  had  been 
pulled  loose  and  carried  into  a  beaver  house. 
He  took  several  hours  in  securing  and  pre- 
paring the  beaver,  and  when  he  started  home- 
wards he  marked  with  some  uneasiness  how 
low  the  sun  was  getting.  As  he  hurried  to- 
wards camp,  under  the  tall  trees,  the  silence 
and  desolation  of  the  forest  weighed  on  him. 
His  feet  made  no  sound  on  the  pine  needles, 
and  the  slanting  sun  rays,  striking  through 
among  the  straight  trunks,  made-a  gray  twilight 
in  which  objects  at  a  distance  glimmered  in- 
distinctly. There  was  nothing  to  break  the 
ghostly  stillness  which,  when  there  is  no 
breeze,  always  broods  over  these  sombre 
primeval  forests. 

At  last  he  came  to  the  edge  of  the  little 
glade  where  the  camp  lay,  and  shouted  as  he 
approached  it,  but  got  no  answer.  The  camp 
fire  had  gone  out,  though  the  thin  blue  smoke 


246  HUNTING  THE  GRISLY. 

was  still  curling  upwards.  Near  it  lay  the 
packs,  wrapped  and  arranged.  At  first 
Bauman  could  see  nobody  ;  nor  did  he  receive 
an  answer  to  his  call.  Stepping  forward  he 
again  shouted,  and  as  he  did  so  his  eye  fell 
on  the  body  of  his  friend,  stretched  beside  the 
trunk  of  a  great  fallen  spruce.  Rushing  to- 
wards it  the  horrified  trapper  found  that  the 
body  was  still  warm,  but  that  the  neck  was 
broken,  while  there  were  four  great  fang  marks 
in  the  throat. 

The  footprints  of  the  unknown  beast-crea- 
ture, printed  deep  in  the  soft  soil,  told  the 
whole  story. 

The  unfortunate  man,  having  finished  his 
packing,  had  sat  down  on  the  spruce  log  with 
his  face  to  the  fire,  and  his  back  to  the  dense 
woods,  to  wait  for  his  companion.  While 
thus  waiting,  his  monstrous  assailant,  which 
must  have  been  lurking  nearby  in  the  woods, 
waiting  for  a  chance  to  catch  one  of  the  ad- 
venturers unprepared,  came  silently  up  from 
behind,  walking  with  long,  noiseless  steps,  and 
seemingly  still  on  two  legs.  Evidently  un- 
heard, it  reached  the  man,  and  broke  his  neck 
by  wrenching  his  head  back  with  its  forepaws, 
while  it  buried  its  teeth  in  his  throat.  It  had 
not  eaten  the  body,  but  apparently  had  romped 
and  gambolled  round  it  in  uncouth,  ferocious 
glee,  occasionally  rolling  over  and  over  it ; 
and  had  then  fled  back  into  the  soundless 
depths  of  the  woods. 

Bauman,  utterly  unnerved,  and  believing 
that  the  creature  with  which  he  had  to  deal 


JN  COWBOY  LAND. 


247 


was  something  either  half  human  or  half  devil, 
some  great  goblin-beast,  abandoned  every- 
thing but  his  rifle  and  struck  off  at  speed  down 
the  pass,  not  halting  until  he  reached  the  bea- 
ver meadows  where  the  hobbled  ponies  were 
still  grazing.  Mounting,  he  rode  onwards 
through  the  night,  until  far  beyond  the  reach 
of  pursuit 


